


ReunionS

by roseanne, Syrisna



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-01-22 22:37:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12492356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseanne/pseuds/roseanne, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syrisna/pseuds/Syrisna
Summary: He had just remembered, things that he should have never forgotten. The memories had come too late, and for a second Sabo thought 'Maybe I shouldn't have remembered.' But he did, and what matters now is that he was on his way to face what he had forgotten. Written by Nohryn and roseanne.





	1. Dawn

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This story is written by both **Nohryn**  and **r** **oseanne** , you are welcome to check our other works.

.

The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful **Black' Victor Cachat ( Fanfiction.net) **, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.

.

**This story is posted on both _Archives of Our Own_ &  _Fanfiction.net_ (under Syrisna and Rose7anne101)**

.

We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).

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.

.

.

.

"Land in sight!"

The navigator, a man in his thirties by the name of Crutch, upon receiving the alert, went off in search of their Chief of Staff, only to find the man lying on the figurehead facing away from them, staring absently at the sky, the morning sun beating down on him.

"Chief, the  _Liberty_  will be arr … Chief?" He tried again. Still...

"…"

"Chief...are you listening?"

"…"

THWACK!

"Sabo-kun! Snap out of it already!" A rolled-up newspaper appeared suddenly, smacking their absentminded chief harshly on his face. The navigator could only stare agape.  _Where did she come from?_

"Gah! Koala! Are you trying to kill me?" Sabo sprung up instantly, rubbing the place where his second-in-command, Koala, who had acquainted herself with the newspaper enough to use it as a deadly weapon aimed at his head. The petite brunette huffed, hitting the rolled weapon against her palm in irritation.

"I wasn't. But I might if you don't get your head out of the clouds right this second."

Koala gave him a withering look, but even with  _his head in the clouds_  he could glimpse the worry she was trying to hide. Maybe he shouldn't have told her...

Sighing, the young blonde turned around to face the ship's navigator as the young woman stalked away, muttering about idiot chiefs who kept giving her more things to worry about.

"You were saying?" He asked, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

Crutch rolled his eyes and reached out, grabbing his commander by the shoulders and turning him to face outwards.

"As I was saying, the ship will be reaching Dawn Island in approximately one hour." He pointed at the island in the distance. "So, I was wondering if we should dock at the island or drop anchor some little ways out?"

Sabo furrowed his brows, seemingly thinking. "If we docked, where would we be docking?"

"The harbour in Goa Kingdom," the words were said in the unmistaken matter of fact tone.

Right…of course they'd be docking there. He hadn't been paying attention in the meetings as he should have, good thing that Koala wasn't here to reprimand him about it.

The private conversation he had had with Dragon before they left sprung into his mind.

...

..

The whole meeting and planning session had been a blur in his mind after their destination was announced—Goa Kingdom. The name brought forward bittersweet memories, filled with laughter and warmth but also pain and despair.

"Sabo, stay please." The soft-spoken words were a clear order, pulling him by force back to reality.

Sabo wasn't aware that the meeting had ended until his name was spoken by Dragon.

Koala, was beside him, pinching his arm and calling his name quietly without him noticing. She stood up and left giving him a sulking look as goodbye.

"Sure," he murmured quietly while waving his hand half-heartedly in her direction, amused.

With him and Dragon the only one in the room, Dragon said, his voice blank.

"Do you want to go?" As always Dragon was to the point. Even though Sabo had known him for almost ten years now, He still couldn't read past his stony exterior and the emotionless quality of his tone.

"Do I have a choice?" Sabo regretted the words before they fully left his mouth, he seemed like sulking child.

"We always have choices, Sabo."

Dragon was unimpressed with his deflection.

Sabo sighed, his shoulders slumped, he was _being_ a mopey child. The destination of the mission did catch him unprepared, it had been only few months since he had remembered that _place_ , and what it meant to him, the good and the bad.

"I am not sure, to be honest. That place brings back a lot of memories, and not all of them are ... good. I am not sure how I feel about going back there." Even the 'good' memories ached right now, they were drilling holes in his bleeding heart.

Sabo paused, Dragon watched him silently with an impassive face.

The quiet was strangely comfortable, Dragon was giving him some space to make his own decision. Sabo knew that Dragon would not force him to go, nor would he think any less of him for whatever choice he made.

Sabo titled his head, his eyes sparkling with renewed determination as he looked squarely at Dragon.

"I don't really want to go back right now, but _..._ " he trilled off and added "I suppose you'd tell me to face my problems and sort them out," he mused. "Wouldn't you?"

No answer was forthcoming, not even a bat of an eyelid. Sabo continued, not expecting a reaction. He would have been truly surprised if he'd gotten one.

"Anyway, getting as much information as we can about the upcoming  _Reverie_ is important to our future plans,especially with all these new kings."

"So you were actually paying attention." Dragon amusedly said.

"Worry not, leader, your second in command has everything under control." Sabo said half joking, while standing up.

"We are sending other teams to check the Sakura Kingdom and confirm our information about Alabasta, of course." Dragon told him conversely.

"We are?" Sabo paused, erasing the confusion from his face as he composed himself and said, "Of course we are. We need every bit of information."

Dragon had an amused expression on his face with slightly arched eyebrow, he gave an acknowledging nod, Sabo mirrored it with one of his own and turned to exit intending in preparing hastily for the new mission.

Sabo paused in his step and turned to face Dragon and in serious tone to match his serious face, he asked. "Any messages you wish me to deliver back _home_?"

The amusement disappeared from Dragon's face, and a nostalgic expression replaced it that quickly disappeared, his face returned to his original blank expression.

"Everything that needed to be said was already said."

Sabo nodded, he didn't expect anything else but he thought he should still ask.

"And Luffy?"

There was no hesitation in his answer this time.

"Everything that needed to be said was already said."

..

…

Goa Kingdom.

He scowled, remembering the place and the reason he left, but quickly wiped his face blank, but not before receiving a curious look from his subordinate.

"Isn't there anywhere else?" He remembered that there was a harbour in the small village on the other side of the island, surely it'd be better if they could dock there? After all, they were here on Revolutionary business, and it wouldn't do to draw the attention of the marines, even if they were in East Blue. Or at least that was the excuse Sabo told himself.

The navigator shook his head, trying to hide his displeasure. "As we said in the  _meeting_  we will dock in the official dock as merchants. We did stop in Paradise and brought a lot of merchandise for that purpose," he paused waiting for Sabo to show any kind of recollection. Sabo with blank face nodded for him to continue. He vaguely did remember Koala and Hack mentioning something about it, and clearly remembered the new food they were suddenly served in the galley. He had been too preoccupied with his thoughts about returning to notice much of what was going on around him, Sabo admitted to himself, he should get his head straight; this was an important mission.

"But if you prefer we can dock the ship at one of the smaller islands nearby and sail there in boats. Should I change directions?" Crutch continued.

Sabo sighed resignedly.

"No, stick to the plan." He grinned suddenly, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "But before that, make a detour to the other side of the island."

"The other side? Why?"

"There's a village there...and someone I want to see." His voice trailed off at the end, and his eyes gained a faraway look. It had been several months since the war, and Sabo wondered how  _that person_  had taken the news of Ace's death.

"There is?" Crutch's question brought him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to see the older man picking a piece of parchment of a pile and studying it which Sabo supposed was a map of Goa.

Of course Crutch wouldn't know about Foosha. Not many did. The only reason he even knew was because of Luffy, who'd never stop talking about his idols the Red-Haired Pirates once he started. Now that Sabo thought about it, he knew quite a lot about the Emperor and his crew's various quirks, despite never having met them thanks to Luffy.

He pointed to the large plain on the opposite side of the mountain from Goa. "It's somewhere around here if I remember correctly."

The navigator looked at him suspiciously. "And you know this how?" In response, Sabo shot him an annoyed look, followed by an eye roll. "I have my ways"  _Duh, I used to live_ _in the area_ _. Not that he knows._ Sabo thought to himself, memories that only a while ago were always slipping from his fingers, kept surfacing in his mind's eyes with startling clarity.

Shrugging off the weird feeling his commander was emitting and the fact that he had been absent minded more than usual for this whole journey, the older man left, disappearing into the navigation room while grumbling about  _whimsical leaders who think they can do whatever they want whenever they want_ , leaving Sabo to gaze out across the blue sea with an unreadable expression.

* * *

Sure enough, there was a village on the other side of the island. At first glance, the village seemed rather quiet, but the moment the  _Liberty_  got close enough to be spotted, the small docks at the edge of the village was immediately crowded with villagers, curious about the ship that was heading for their little town. Travellers rarely came their way when the Goa Kingdom was just on the other side of the island. Most of the time they were merchant ships, but with the villagers' minimal experience, they couldn't tell if the approaching vessel was one of those. For one, it wasn't as bulky as merchant ships were, and had cannons built into the side, which most merchant ships didn't have.

"I don't believe it. There really is a village…" Crutch was muttering, his gaze fixed on the waters ahead. Beside him, Sabo was sitting cross legged on the railings, a small smile gracing his features as he spotted a familiar face amongst the people. The blonde chuckled at his companions' mutterings. "Were you doubting me?" He asked teasingly. "I'm almost hurt that you thought I'd lie."

"Wouldn't be the first time now would it?" The older man retorted.

"...you're no fun." Sabo pouted when he didn't receive the reaction he wanted. Seriously, his friends were all mood-killers. Crutch gave Sabo a sideways glance, an expression reserved for when he was being stupid.

Sheepish, Sabo excused himself, claiming that he had to go prepare.

"Prepare? This is just a short detour, isn't it? What's there to prepare?" The navigator asked, receiving an amused look from Sabo.

"A lot actually. Basic necessities, toiletries, all that stuff." The chief carelessly waved his hand as he hopped off the figurehead where he had been for the past hour and started towards to cabins.

"Why would you need all that when it's just a…" Realisation dawned on the older man as he watched his superior's receding back. "Wait! Don't tell me you're planning to have us stay here for several days?! What about the mission?"

Sabo paused in his steps, turning back to grin widely at him and at that moment, Crutch felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

"I'm gonna be staying for a few days, You guys, are going to continue on to Goa as planned."

…

...

He was gone.

_Damn you, Sabo._

...

….

On the way, Sabo picked up a few sandwiches from the galley, deciding to munch on them while he packed. As Chief of Staff, Sabo naturally had his own room aboard the ship, though it wasn't much really. It was pretty much bare apart from basic furniture-bed, desk, chair, wardrobe, the usual. Locating a small canvas sack from within the wardrobe, he stuffed a few sets of clothes, some daily necessities-toothbrush, soap, etc and a small purse in it. Last but not least, he grabbed his metal pipe which was propped up next to the bed, giving it a few twirls before slipping it into its intended place on his back.

All set.

Grabbing his things, he headed out the door onto the deck, running into Koala who was just on her way to get him. Just like him, she also had a pack slung over one shoulder, filled with things that they would need over the next few days.

"So..Goa, huh? How does it feel to be back here?" She asked as they made their way above deck.

"It's kind of complicated, to tell the truth." Sabo replied, choosing not to correct her. Scratching the back of his head. "I'm happy, but at the same time, I'm not."

They emerged from below just as the  _Liberty_  entered the harbour, and the image of a quaint little village greeted them.

Koala looked around confusedly. " _This_ is the Goa Kingdom?"

"Actually, no. This is Foosha village."

"Foosha…? I don't suppose you know why we're here, do you?" Koala said darkly, a tick starting to form on her forehead.

"Oh, that? I wanted to see someone here, so I told navigation to make a detour...OW!" Sabo shrieked in pain as his cheeks were suddenly pinched and harshly stretched by none other than his faithful companion Koala. Who was glaring daggers at him now.

"Why the hell didn't I hear anything about this?!" She screamed, oblivious to the way everyone else turned their heads away, pretending not to hear anything. The brunette never discriminates when she was angry, and no one wanted to suffer at her hands, so all who knew wisely kept their mouths shut and let their commander deal with her. It was his fault after all, no doubt about it.

"Itsh wash a lash mint decsion…" Sabo got out somehow, and pried Koala's hands off his cheeks. "That hurts, you know."

"What happened to you leading the mission?" She demanded.

"Nothing." He replied, rubbing his cheeks. "I'm just gonna catch up with you guys in a few days."

"You're gonna do what?! If you go off on your own where does that leave us? How will it seem if the Head Merchant is not present when we arrive at new place to sell our  _merchandise_. You are the leader of this mission, Chief of Staff." Koala was poking him in the shoulder stressing every word.

Sabo opened his mouth but closed it thoughtfully, she was not yet finished and better not make her hackles raise even more. He needed to wait for the right chance to present his idea.

"You are not going to run away from your post and leave your responsibilities to me  **again** ,  _are you_?" The underlying threat in her voice obvious to all while Sabo was exclusively subjected to the menacing look that Koala was famous for.

"I am going to lead of course," Sabo answered in calm voice, showing no doubt while he looked Koala straight in the eyes.

He waited until Koala shoulders slumped in relief before adding, "but from behind the scenes."

"HUH?"

Sabo didn't intend to give anyone the chance to refuse or doubt, he hurriedly added.

"You and Hack will be joining me."

"What?"

"Well, I thought about it and all of us being merchants would limit how much we can gather information and how fast we do it, but if some of us were to sneak in and fit with crowds we could get a variety of information and faster."

"But..."

"Of course, if we were all seen as merchants we couldn't then take another  _role_  without risks and we don't want any kind of raised eyebrows here, right?"

"That is true..."

"And Hack is going to raise eyebrows..."

Koala opened her mouth.

"I know, I know. We wanted him to be as merchant because we wanted the attention of the elite noble and  _fishman_  would do just that and we may even get some invite to  _high_  places or parties for this spectacular sight…."

Sabo trailed off while waving his hand in Hack's direction whose face was expressionless but the people around him showed differing ranges of disgust on their faces, mirroring the apparent disgust in Sabo's voice.

"This could work but it could also backfire on us. You know how fishmen and mermaids are usually regarded by humans, especially  _nobles,"_  Sabaody Archipelago came to his mind, and to everyone else there. "We should find out more about how this new king and the nobles here treat and regard merpeople without putting Hack in the spotlight."

"What about this village, wouldn't they ...?"

"Worry not. The village is isolated from the rest of the island, and the villagers here would keep quiet, they're a really tight-knitted group and they don't care."

"How do you know?"

"Red Hair used this village as his base when he sailed in East Blue for over year with no problems ..."

"A Yonko?"

"Seriously?"

"See, I am taking my role as leader very seriously, and changing things to fit the situation, to make our mission as successful as possible."

"What about the merchant plan, who is going to be the head merchant instead?"

Sabo looked quickly around him, he knew he had forgotten something...

"Crutch."

"What the heck?! No!" Crutch spluttered unhappy to be dragged into this.

"He  _is_  an old man. Head merchants can't be someone young like me, it would raise eyebrows and we want to seem like a normal group, and really, just  _look_  at him... he screams merchant. He just has to shave and get some new clothes and  _tada_."

"What do you mean new clothes? What is wrong with what I am wearing? And I shaved yesterday."

"Fine." Koala finally said. "Me and Hack will go with you, everyone should keep their Den Den Mushi on them all time."

"Why me?!" Crutch shouted in desperation, but no one paid him any attention.

Sabo smiled to himself but quickly made his face  _serious_ again.

No need to mess up a well-done job by being caught boasting.

* * *

The docking went smoothly without a hitch-though there had been some minor unrest when the Revolutionaries saw the sign that was undoubtedly placed there by the marines, but Sabo had been too distracted to notice much-and soon the gangplank was lowered, the other end resting steadily on the concrete harbour. With Koala and Hack trailing behind him, Sabo descended from the ship, coming to a stop in front of an old man who was hunched over a cane. The man, though old, met the Revolutionary's eyes with a steady gaze.

The old man eye's locked with him, he blinked several times and opened his mouth then closed it with a click. His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he looked Sabo up and down. With a scowl on his face he finally said, "So you're still alive, brat."

Sabo thought he saw a hint of surprise and maybe relief (probably his wishful thinking).

"You don't seem very surprised, but good to see you too, Mayor Wood Slap." Sabo returned without missing a beat.

At that moment, all the people around-villager and revolutionaries included-were wondering how their respective leaders knew each other. Koala and Hack only traded understanding looks. After all, they had been right there when Sabo first woke up after regaining his memories, and were two of the few whom Sabo had told about his past.

"Mayor, do you know this guy?"

One of the townsmen voiced their thoughts, only to earn a glare from the mayor and raised eyebrow from the Chief of Staff.

"Someone go get Makino from the bar." He ordered, sending a man scurrying, but not before several of the village children decided they wanted the job and blew past the man, racing to Makino's bar. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Wood Slap turned back to Sabo.

"You better not make her cry anymore, you hear me?" He threatened and stalked away, muttering under his breath, "Annoying rude brat, returning only now…," and continued about damn brats who think they can do anything anytime they want. Sabo rolled his eyes at the sight. Honestly. It's been what, ten years since he last saw the man but it seems like he hasn't changed even a little. Maybe except looking older. Him, on the other hand...adjusting his top hat slightly to shield his eyes from the bright sun, he was reminded of the scars he bore, reminders of the fire that kept him away from his brothers for ten years. He'd changed so much that he had assumed that the mayor would never recognise him even if he was standing face to face with him. Turns out he did though...

Sabo remained quiet, thinking about his childhood memories. Opposite him, the villagers were still gathered around, even though the mayor had left and so had the ship. He could hear them whispering to each other, wondering about their guests, one of whom the mayor seemed to know.

Feeling slightly uneasy with the number of scrutinizing gazes that were focused on him, Sabo looked around, hoping to find some sort of distraction. Then he found the perfect candidate.

Taking hold of Hack who was standing off to the side, he dragged him in front of him by his shirt and called out to the villagers, catching their attention.

"This is Hack, he is a fishman, you've never seen a fishman before, right? Ask him anything!"

Sabo casually sidestepped the group of excited residents that bombarded the poor Hack with questions, not at all guilty about throwing his subordinate and close friend to the wolves.

"He can actually speak?"

"What do you eat?"

"Does eating fish count as cannibalism?"

"Does that make us?"

"You breathe under water?"

"Where do you live?"

"You sleep with eyes open?"

"Wait! Does that mean that mermaids are real?"

Sabo looked at them amused, it never stopped being amusing seeing people get excited about meeting a fishman for the first time. Not to mention Hack's mildly annoyed look and forced patience as he tried to answer the onslaught of questions about fishmen was totally worth the payback Hack was sure to deal out at a later date.

Sabo turned and looked at his home. 'Home', what a strange notion to him. He was born here, but it was never home until he met his brothers. Luffy and Ace made this place  _home_.

But not anymore.

Ace was no more, and Sabo hadn't even visited his grave yet.  _Some brother he was._  Although in his defence, he had no idea where it was. Sabo clutched his hands in frustration, and their younger brother, was nowhere to be found. He'd used all the revolutionary's connections and could find nothing about Luffy's whereabouts.

He even confronted Dragon about it, when his worry and frustration reached its boiling point and Dragon had told him in his usual calm, unfazed manner, "Luffy survived a bloody war, Sabo. Unless another one happened that we don't know about, he'll be fine."

Sabo had no answer to that, he knew his brother was strong. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from searching through every scrap of paper, looking for his brothers within lines of words, trying to fill the big gaps in his knowledge. This resulted in him not only finding news on Luffy, but also various things that he had never heard about since he rarely bothered to learn about what was happening in the world besides what Intelligence told him, and those were only important stuff or mission-related. Koala helped, gathering all the papers that had been published in the last three years, all the while chastising him for not keeping up with the news like she told him to. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sabo wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment. Three years' worth of papers had taken up nearly half of his office, and he had to admit that the sheer amount discouraged him somewhat, though he pulled through in the end.

He had also made Ivankov tell him the story of their meeting in Impel Down and the war several times. During one of their conversations, the okama king had mentioned an unexpected guest of the Kamabakka Kingdom who claimed he was part of the Straw-Hat crew, but was still under heavy scrutiny since none of the crew's wanted poster matched him, or so Ivankov had told him. Judging from the description Sabo had received, he suspected that the guest was none other than 'Black Leg' Sanji. How many people in the world had curly eyebrows? And through a team dispatched to East Blue, he had learnt that Nico Robin, another one of the Straw Hats had been found on Tequila Wolf. He had tried to talk to her, but the archaeologist had expertly deflected him every time he tried to broach the subject of Luffy and her crew, either that or she hung up on him immediately. The only thing he'd gotten out of her was that the crew would be meeting up in two years, so there was nothing to worry about at the moment.

Nevertheless, the niggling doubt and worry never left him. He had lost a brother without even knowing he had one. Ace died thinking he was dead and for all Luffy knew he was the only one left. All alone. What if Luffy…...

A loud commotion from the village snapped Sabo out of his thoughts. He tilted his head looking for the source, anything to escape his dark thoughts.

Then he saw  _her_ , and all thoughts were pushed aside.

.

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Leave us a review, a candle of inspiration and motivation :D


	2. Foosha

.

This story is written by both  **Nohryn**  and  **r** **oseanne** , you are welcome to check our other works.

.

The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful **Black' Victor Cachat ( Fanfiction.net) **, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.

.

**This story is posted on both _Archives of Our Own_ &  _Fanfiction.net_ (under Syrisna and Rose7anne101)**

.

We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).

.

.

.

.

.

Sabo saw her before she saw him.

The children crowded her as they dragged her towards the harbour, a bottle of rum still in her hand. She had probably been putting the stock in place when the eager kids arrived and dragged her here without  even letting her put it down, he assumed.

Makino looked the same as she did ten years ago. Her green hair was longer now, tied together in a low ponytail beneath a yellow bandana with some patterns on it that he couldn't make out while her smile was as gentle as he remembered. The only real difference between then and now was that he was taller than her, and had to look down instead of looking up.

She was smiling and trying to make sense of what the kids were bubbling excitedly about, gesturing in the general direction of where they stood.

Sabo tilted his hat down to hide his eyes, feeling anxious suddenly.  _ Maybe I shouldn’t have made this trip... _ he thought, second-guessing his decision to come to Foosha.

“Sabo? Are you okay?” Koala asked, concerned at his sudden change in attitude, but Sabo didn't hear her. She called him again and again, her voice getting louder with each time as with concern but no response came.

While his head was lowered, he failed to see the shocked, unbelieving look Makino wore when she heard the brunette call his name or the searching look she assessed his figure with.

The shattering of glass on concrete snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Makino covering her mouth with both hands, tears glistening as they rolled down her cheeks.

“Sabo-kun…?” She asked uncertainly, her voice wavering. Her mind raced with jumbled thoughts. She was sure she had heard one of the newcomers call the man with the familiar top-hat ‘Sabo’, but it couldn’t be the Sabo she knew. That Sabo had died ten years ago. Although they never found his body but ...it couldn’t be! She dared not hope...Her heart was still aching from Ace’s recent demise. Had God took pity on her?

She repeated his name louder like a prayer.

 

The sight rendered Sabo speechless. On the way here, he had thought a lot about each encounter he was going to have on the island, imagining every scenario down to the smallest detail, but no amount of imagination and planning could have prepared him for this.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out, and unconsciously, he took a step back.

He was looking at his feet, confused as to why they had moved on their own when he saw droplets falling to the ground.

Reaching up, his hand was met with wetness.

_ I’m crying…?  _ He wondered as he tried to wipe it away using his hands the way a child would.

“Sabo-kun, is that really you?” Makino asked, the hope colouring her voice would have painted a rainbow.

“Makino-san…” Sabo mumbled as he rubbed at his eyes furiously-he didn’t want her to see him in this embarrassing state _ (I’m a grown man for god’s sake, the chief of staff of the one and only Revolutionary Army!! _ )-and that was all the affirmation she needed.

Too busy trying to hide his tears, he didn’t notice Makino running at him until he felt a warm solid body colliding into him.

A warmth that belonged to the green-haired woman who was holding onto him for dear life and openly crying now.

Sabo was paralyzed, but he managed to get himself together and did the only thing he could think of.

He hugged her back.

* * *

After their tearful reunion at the harbour, Makino had brought him to the Party’s Bar while Koala and Hack had stayed behind to check out the village.

Makino had closed the bar despite his objections and they were now sitting at the counter, the barmaid having brought out several plates of his favourite foods after a quick trip to the kitchen. She sat next to him, watching as Sabo scarfed down the food.

Makino didn’t ask or prompt him to speak, but her calm, gentle gaze which looked at him in pure happiness without judgement nor questioning made him want to share with her his past, to tell her all of what he had gone through.

His two companions were taking their time , even though they’d said that they would meet him at the bar after they looked around town. However, Sabo knew that that was just an excuse to give him and Makino some privacy and the two were probably hanging around somewhere in the village.

Sabo opened his mouth to fill the silence and only closed it after two hours. Everything had spilled out so naturally in front of her.

” I see, so that’s what happened.” Makino said after he had finished telling her the shortened version of the past ten years. He’d told her about how Dragon had rescued him and brought him to Baltigo, and the ten years he had spent there. Sabo told her all that he had experienced, the many places he had visited and things that he had learned. He even told Makino about his missions, although he left out the details like the who, when and where due to protocol. Makino took it all in stride, quietly listening to him as he retold the past decade of his life.

He felt safe telling her about his life, maybe because it was Makino or maybe because he somehow felt like he was telling a story, (‘An adventure!’ He imagined Luffy’s smiling face shouting).

It felt like he was narrating a book. 

Maybe his childish dream to sail the sea and write a book about all his adventures that he had finally remembered with all his other new-old memories was still throbbing in some hidden place deep inside of him. 

 

Maybe it was always there, hidden inside.

Never gone, just forgotten.

 

“I’m glad.” The barmaid suddenly said aloud.

“Hmm?” Sabo turned to look at her, confused by her declaration.

“I’m really glad that you weren’t alone…” She stopped herself, taking a deep breath before she continued.

“When I heard that you died, what hurt me the most was the thought that you were all alone in those last moments, that you ...” wouldn’t come back later. The barmaid bit down on her lips as the memory surfaced.

Makino had wanted to rush up the mountains after people suddenly stumbled into the village from the forest shouting about fire, some injured and coughing. She was worried to death and was hoping that the three boys were safe and sound. But the mayor had stopped her, saying it was too dangerous to go up the mountains at night, especially when the situation on the other side was unknown.

Makino busied herself in helping the few miserable people that were able to survive and arrive to their village. They were all in bad physical shape, trembling, unable to speak coherently. They needed help to eat and drink. It was clear that their bad shape was not only because of the recent fire but also from years of negligence and malnourishment.  

When they could speak , they painted a frightening picture of what had occurred , but the only thing she could focus on was that the fire was far from the bandit’s hideout, so they should  all be safe . The boys had probably been in their tree house in the forest (if not in the hideout) , and they were smart enough to stay away from such danger , but she couldn't shake the bad feeling she had. Thus, she had stayed up, sleep eluded her as doubts and fears kept plunging her.

The woman had rushed out first thing in the morning, heading up familiar trails to the bandit's hut. Makino was expecting to see the trio welcoming her with bright, sunny smiles. Instead, she found Luffy sitting in a corner of in the bandit’s hut, silently holding onto his hat. Ace and Sabo were nowhere to be seen and so was Dadan. Magra had pulled her aside, softly telling her the events that had transpired the previous night and everything that had led up to it. The barmaid had been utterly heart-broken when Dogra arrived later, bringing the news of Sabo’s death at the hands of the Celestial Dragons.

 

“When I heard of Ace’s death, I remembered all the sadness and anger I felt when I heard of your supposed death, and all I could do to console myself is think that at least Ace was not alone, he had Luffy, his crew and friends ...” Her gaze was downcast. “It’s pathetic and selfish...and horrible ... because Luffy had to watch his brother die.”

Sabo flinched, his face getting pale as his knuckles clutched the table. His younger brother had to watch Ace die while Sabo didn't even know. What he was doing when Ace died? Was he laughing? Happy about some silly thing? He couldn’t seem to _ remember _ right now. His mouth felt dry like a blistering desert. He remained silent as Makino continued.

“Even though it broke my heart, the sadness I felt couldn’t possibly amount to what Luffy must have felt.” Her hands were clenched together tightly. “I know it’s selfish of me to say this, but I really am happy that you weren’t alone, that you were safe and had people to take care of you, that you grew up to become this healthy, strong, adult in front of me….and that you came back.”

Sabo lowered his eyes, unable to respond.

Speaking with someone who had known Ace and Luffy as he had and understood the scorching pain in his heart...it was different.

He was somehow relieved --though tainted with guilt it may be-- to hear Makino say this.

Makino reached out, covering his hands with her own as she looked him in the eyes.

“You have to find Luffy.” It wasn’t a question or an order. It was merely a statement.

“You have to find him, so he would know that he isn’t alone.”

“Aren’t you angry with me?” Sabo whispered. He couldn't stop the wavering in his voice. He didn't need to look at the mirror to know that his face was wearing all his fears and vulnerabilities to the naked eye. The shame and regret he was trying to keep at bay suddenly descended on him with all its choking weight.

“Why would I be?”

“I didn’t come back until now.”  

_ I didn't come back in time to be of any help, to save Ace. To make sure that Luffy was safe, that he wasn't alone. _

 

The barmaid chuckled and bonked him lightly on the head, faintly smiling.

“Silly boy. I just said I was happy that you came back, didn’t I? Besides, you had amnesia, it wasn’t your fault you couldn’t remember.”

“Yes, no, I meant when I first woke up after the accident, they asked me if they should look for my family in Goa, but I ...I refused.”

“And good thing you did, you found a new place to belong.”

“But maybe if I hadn’t, I would have found my brothers …. I would have been able to do something when Ace was captured.”

“Or maybe you would have died, or made it worse and get Luffy killed ...You can’t live with ‘what ifs.’ I know it hurts and you hate yourself for it, but the best you can do is live in the present. You still have one brother, and he needs his big brother ; you can continue Ace’s legacy.” Makino smiled as she remembered the two boys who were too active for their own good.

“Ace took his promise to you seriously, you know? He told me about it, that he had promised to be the best brother to Luffy. He even came to me, asking me to teach him manners so he could thank Shanks for saving Luffy.”

“That’s great.” Sabo paused and did a doubletake. “Wait. What?! Ace learned _ manners _ ?”

“Yes. I was so surprised.”

“You’re kidding, aren’t you, Makino-san?”

“Nope.” She replied, popping the ‘p’. “Luffy even joined us for a few lessons.”

“Now that is even less believable.” The revolutionary muttered to himself. Trying to imagine his two brothers sitting and listening in attention to ‘etiquette lessons’ and failing. It was just unbelievable; it was easier to believe that devil fruit users could swim.

“Well...at least Luffy tried. Although he would only stay focused for a few minutes at most before losing interest and complaining to Ace. Most of the time, Ace would get distracted eventually and then they would leave to go do something fun, usually involving food.”

Both Sabo and Makino laughed. When they calmed down, the green-haired woman gave the blonde’s hands a light squeeze.

“Ace did all of that because he wanted to be the best brother, so he could fill your role too. He would want you to do the same, don’t you think?”

“When you put it like that, I can imagine that unimpressed frown of his, not understanding why I’m simply sulking and not doing anything.”

“Exactly. So, stop blaming yourself, Sabo.”

Sabo smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Makino-san.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, basking in the presence of the other. Makino, on a whim, reached out to stroke Sabo’s curly hair. It had been a long time since she had done this, and his hair was much longer than it used to be.

 

At that precise moment, Koala and Hack stepped into the bar, eyes widening slightly at the scene before them.

Sensing them, Sabo quickly turned towards them, his face bright red with embarrassment while Makino, shocked by their sudden appearance, automatically retracted her hand.

“Um...are we interrupting something?” Koala asked, not sure if she should just turn and leave.

Makino quickly recovered, and smiled brightly at the other two revolutionaries. “No, no, not at all! Do come in!” She invited, then turned to Sabo. “Sabo, why don’t you introduce your friends?”

Before their leader could, Koala stepped up, hand outstretched towards Makino.

“Hi, miss...uh…”

“Makino. Just Makino is fine.”

“Ok...Hi, Makino, I’m Koala, this idiot’s second-in-command.”

Makino barely stifled a giggle. “Nice to meet you, Koala-chan. And the gentleman behind you?”

The  _ gentleman _ behind koala turned to look behind him in surprise. He hadn’t heard the door creak again. 

Sabo and Koala, who knew whom the barmaid was referring to were snickering openly  while Makino looked confused.

Hack turned back, finally realizing who was the gentleman she spoke of. His hand rubbing the back of his head while his cheeks were tainted pink. He cleared his throat quietly mumbling ‘gentleman’ to himself.

“Oh, that's Hack. He's our fishman karate instructor.” Koala introduced taking pity on the flustered Hack.

Hearing his name, Hack shook himself, stood straight and came to attention with military precision, shaking the barmaid's hand vigorously.

“Pleased to meet you ma’am.” He said, shyly and sincerely. It wasn’t every day that he, a  _ fishman _ , got called a  _ gentleman _ by a human so naturally. Taken by surprise by the green-haired woman, Hack found himself liking her a lot. It was rare for his people to receive such equal treatment, and they were in the East Blue, where prejudice against fishmen were even worse than on the Grand Line. The fact that she had taken care of their leader when he was young, only earned her more brownie points in his books.

This village was kind of strange. The people here asked a lot of ridiculous questions and even pointed at him, their gazes not leaving him ( which wasn't what was strange, that was the normal state of things), but the underlying scorn, distrust and hate were missing. It was pure curiosity, the kind that vanished with exposure. He was beginning to like it here more and more.

Makino beamed at them and said.

“I bet you are hungry after such a long journey, how about an early lunch?”

Koala tried to decline, not wanting to trouble the kindly barmaid, but eventually gave in under the pressure of Makino’s ever-present smile.

While Makino went into the kitchen to prepare their meal, Koala and Hack joined Sabo at the counter, sitting on opposite sides of their chief.

“So…this is where you grew up.” Koala started, looking around the bar.

“Nope.” Sabo replied, loosening his cravat so it wasn't as stuffy.

“But I thought you said…?”

“I said 'I grew up on Dawn Island’.” He grinned playfully. “I never specified where.”

“Oh really?” Koala drawled. “How’d you get to know Makino then?”

One word said it all. “Luffy.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a minute, not knowing how to continue the conversation. Both Koala and Hack knew Sabo well enough to see that he was still distracted, maybe even more so than when he had been on the ship, but they chalked it down to him being “home” for the first time in ten years.

Without any conversation, the only sound in the bar was the sound of cooking from the kitchen and the tell-tale sizzling of food on a hot pan.

“By the way,” Koala started, breaking the silence. “I’m going to assume you didn’t see that huge ass sign outside, did you?”

“What sign?”

Leaving Hack in the shop, Koala dragged her superior out into the streets and pointed at the large sign that had been planted some ways away from the bar.

“That sign.”

Paling considerably as he read the warning on the sign, Sabo gulped, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive. A cold sweat broke out as he remembered the training sessions (torture) he had been subjected to long ago.

Turning stiffly, he made his way back to the bar with Koala trailing alongside him, just in time to see Makino bring out several plates of food.

While Koala and Hack ate, Sabo sat quietly next to them, deep in thought.

“Makino, aren’t you going to eat?” The brunette suddenly spoke, looking up at the green-haired barmaid who was wiping some mugs behind the counter.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. Just enjoy your meal.” Makino answered with a faint smile.

But when they did not resume eating, she added while sighing.

“I wasn’t feeling very well this morning, and my appetite is acting a little strange. It’s probably just a cold or something.”

“Maybe you should see a doctor?” Hack suggested.

“No need,” She waved away their concern. “I took some medicine earlier before you guys came. It’s probably worn off by now, but thanks for your concern.”

They nodded and resumed eating.

Sabo was still lost in his head and didn’t hear this small exchange, so Koala and Hack resolved to not say anything. Makino probably wouldn’t want to worry him.

“We’re leaving after this.” He announced as soon as they finished their meal.

“What?!” Koala exclaimed. “But we already found a place to stay!” It hadn’t taken them even 5 minutes to do really. It wasn’t that hard considering there was only one small inn that was apparently also part-time meeting hall and wedding hall.

Sabo frowned, slightly annoyed at the way things were turning out.

“You got mad when we came here, and now that I decide to go you want to stay?”

“But, but…” The brunette pouted at him. “The villagers were so nice! We didn’t even have to ask!”

“And here I thought you’d want to finish what we came to do first, turns out I was wrong.” Sabo snapped, standing up, his fist clenched beside him. He felt anger rising inside of him, he knew he wasn't angry with Koala (he would have to apologize later), but he wasn't sure what was it that made him this angry exactly: being back here when none of his brothers were present--Ace would never be back--facing the fears and anger this place evoked in him, the old m... _ Garp _ , the whole blasted situation. He just wanted to do something, beat something, he wanted things to go his way.

From behind the counter, Makino watched on worriedly, hoping that their disagreement would be resolved.

“... we can't join them now! The others have  already arrived...why are you in such a hurry to leave anyway?” Koala yelled, standing up to face Sabo, hands planted firmly on her hips as she glared at him.

The blonde didn’t answer, averting his eyes so that his hat hid them from sight. There was simply no way he was going to tell his friends (and Makino) that he was deathly scared of Garp and that sign out there just solidified the fear that he might run into the vice-admiral. Sabo had had half a mind to go looking for the man to confront him about what happened at the war, but he wasn’t in much of a position to say anything when he hadn’t been present at all.

A small voice inside him was shouting  _ ‘that at least Sabo didn't know! What was the bastard’s excuse?’ _

“Sabo, will you be going to visit Dadan?” Makino interrupted.

Both Koala and Sabo turned to her, momentarily forgetting their argument, the tension in their bodies leaving when faced with Makino’s calm demeanour.

“...yes?” He replied hesitantly.

The barmaid smiled a slightly sad smile at his answer. “That’s good. She was really upset when...when he died.” She said, her voice barely a whisper at the end. “She drank so much she nearly got alcohol poisoning…”

Stepping out from behind the counter, Makino walked over to Sabo and reached up to caress his face. Her fingers brushed against the scar tissue on the left, feeling the rough texture that surrounded most of his left eye and extended behind his ears.

“I think Dadan will be happy to know that another of her sons is still alive.”

Sabo blushed furiously. “I’m not…!” He tried to deny it, but couldn’t get anything out past his stammering.

“You’re their brother, aren’t you?” The green-haired woman smiled, receiving a nod in reply. “Then you’re her son.”

That…makes sense. The young blonde thought. Ace and Luffy did say she was their foster mother…or was it a caretaker?

“She reacted really badly, you know.” Makino said as she drew her hand back, snapping Sabo out of his thoughts. He looked down at her, surprised by the sadness that suddenly appeared in her eyes.

“...what happened?” Sabo asked, his voice barely audible. He could feel Koala and Hack’s eyes on him, wondering what they were talking about but knew better than to interrupt.

The barmaid wrapped her arms around herself. “She was in here for several days drinking…then Garp-san came.”

She paused to take a breath.

“Dadan stormed out of the bar, and started hitting Garp-san, asking him why he didn’t save Ace when he was present at the war...she was crying the entire time. The only other time I’ve ever seen her so upset was when we thought you had died…”

Dadan, the wimpy man-woman, the one that took in three children because she was deathly afraid of Garp that the mere mention of his name made her tremble and whimper. She would have to be extremely drunk to pull something like that or overwhelmingly angry and  deep in the 

sea of sorrow (enough to discard survival instincts), or maybe in this case, both.

 

He couldn’t say that he wouldn’t do the same as her. He could imagine himself punching, kicking and screaming at the old man until his fists bled and his breath left him, but it wouldn’t change a thing.  _ Ace, his brother, would still be dead _ . That was why he didn’t want to meet the old man (one of the reasons at least, the main one, he stubbornly told himself), he really didn’t know what he would do.

If Garp didn't resist or fight back when Dadan punched him  \-- Makino would have said so if he did \-- it meant he felt guilty. Being there and unable to do anything while it played out in front of his eyes. The helplessness and despair would have been overwhelming. But that was the problem, wasn't it!?!

Garp had chosen to do nothing, he chose the marines over his  **family** and that was the one thing Sabo couldn't forgive. Not right now.

Maybe never.

Sabo absently fiddled with the brim of his hat, a habit that came out whenever he was feeling down.

“We caused her a lot of grief, didn’t we?” He asked quietly, his voice sounding a little strained as he tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

Makino didn’t say anything, only placing a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“Is Gran...Garp around a lot?” Sabo asked hesitantly, catching himself before he could habitually call Garp ‘Grandpa’. He had to clench his fists under the counter to control the boiling anger inside of him.

Makino nodded absentmindedly, her eyes were unfocused as if remembering something. “Now that he is semi-retired, he does marine inspections sometimes…” she trailed off and eyed Sabo before adding knowingly.

“He left a few days ago, I think it would be a few more weeks until he comes back.”

The sober atmosphere was broken when the mayor hobbled inside, shouting out loud for Makino.

“Mayor, here for lunch?” The green-haired woman immediately put on her trademark smile. “What would you like?” 

“Lunch sounds good, but actually,” The older man lifted his cane, shoving it directly in Sabo’s face. “I came for this young lad here.”

“For me?” The blonde asked, staring cross-eyed at the cane in his face.

The mayor grunted, then proceeded to drag the much taller man out of the bar by the collar of his coat.

“Yes you...now come!” The remaining occupants heard as the doors swung shut.

Makino laughed sheepishly. “Sorry about the mayor. He has a temper…”

“It’s alright, we’re used to stuff like this.” Koala replied.

“If you say so. Anyway, about your accommodation…”

* * *

 

“Uh...can I ask where we’re going?” Sabo asked, still being dragged by the mayor who was surprisingly strong for a man of his stature.”

The man hmphed. “Luffy's house.”

Sabo’s eyes widened in surprise.  _ Luffy’s house? Does he mean where Luffy lived before he moved in with Ace? Wait...wouldn’t that technically be Shitty Gramp’s house too? _

Wood Slap didn't elaborate further, continuing to drag him down the road while waving away curious questions from the villagers. (One woman even threatened to cut off the mayor's bread supply for two weeks if he treated their guests wrong. She was the baker’s wife, if Sabo wasn't mistaken.)

Not long after, a two-story house with whitewashed walls and a blue roof came into view. A wooden porch lined the perimeter of the house, giving Sabo the impression of a cabin in the forest. The house seemed to be well-maintained (no broken fence or creaky mail-box), even though it obviously hadn’t been lived in much. He assumed that this was where that shitty old man stayed whenever he came to Foosha, not that he visited much in the first place according to Luffy. If he had to hazard a guess, he’d say someone came by to clean every once in awhile. Probably Makino or one of the villagers, they seemed like they’d do something like that.

The mayor led him up the short flight of steps, withdrawing a set of keys from his pocket to unlock the door.

“Mayor, why are we here?” The blonde asked, looking up at the building. While the colours gave off a homey kind of feeling, Sabo thought that the house itself seemed rather lonely. Could you even describe a house as lonely?

Wood Slap looked back at him, a hand placed on the doorknob.

“There’s something here I thought you should see.”.

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Guest reviewers do use a name/nickname please, for us to be able to answer you probably :)

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**Leave us a review** **:D**


	3. Missing Memories

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This story is written by both  **Nohryn**  and  **r** **oseanne** , you are welcome to check our other works.

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The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful **Black' Victor Cachat ( Fanfiction.net) **, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.

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**This story is posted on both _Archives of Our Own_ &  _Fanfiction.net_ (under Syrisna and Rose7anne101)**

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We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).

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The wooden door swung open silently on its hinges, revealing the dim interior which was lit only by the sunlight that peeked in between the curtains.

Mayor Woop Slap entered without a care, his cane tapping loudly on the wooden floor. Sabo followed behind him, looking around curiously at the interior of the house.

With the limited light that shone into what he assumed was the living room. The Revolutionary made out two sets of long couches that were placed opposite each other in the middle of the room over a simple carpet. A low, oblong coffee table was placed between them while several shelves lined the far wall, random trinkets and ornaments scattered about their surface alongside a few books, but it was too dark to make out the details. Next to the windows on the opposite wall stood an antique looking grandfather clock, its metal pendulum swinging back and forth behind the glass door, its rhythm sounding louder than usual in the silent space.

 _This place looks surprisingly nice, and well-kept even._   _Especially since Garp never stayed here more than few days,_  Sabo thought. He'd never imagined Garp would have such classy taste. The mayor didn't linger long, heading straight for the stairs that had been hidden from sight behind the wall. Following him silently, they walked up the stairs to the second floor, where a living space full of book-filled bookcases ( _Gasp_. Garp actually knew how to read!), a long couch, a small table and several lamps greeted them. The blonde nearly tripped over himself as he gaped at the scene. If there was one thing that he hadn't been expecting to see in Luffy's house, it was books. God knows both he and Ace could barely read past their ABC's when they first met. It was a hard-fought battle, but eventually he was able to convince Luffy and Ace, that they should at least learn to read otherwise they wouldn't be able to read their own wanted posters. Or their crew's for that matter.

In his moment of shock, Sabo didn't notice as Woop Slap entered the corridor on the side, only snapping back to attention when the older man shouted at him to come over. He moved over to join the man in front of one of the few doors that lined the corridor on either side.

For a few seconds, he wondered if this could be considered an invasion on Luffy and Garp's personal space, but then he shrugged. It was too late to worry about it now. Besides, he was simply following the mayor, so if anyone was intruding, it was the mayor. Then again, the mayor seemed too law abiding to do something like that, and he clearly had permission to enter and  ** _roam_**  the place freely since he had a key. Sabo wouldn't be surprised if Woop Slap spent more time here than any of the villagers.

"So, what is it that you want me to see?" he asked, wondering what the mayor had brought him all the way here for. Surely it wasn't just to show him Luffy's house. There had to be something else, something he thought to be important.

"This is Garp's bedroom." The mayor told him.

Without another word, Woop Slap opened the door and stepped aside, gesturing for Sabo to enter. Curious, he stepped into the room, only to be utterly shocked by the scene that greeted him.

"Is this…?" He asked, his voice quivering.

The older man came up beside him, looking up at the many pictures that littered the far wall.

"Garp doesn't seem like it, but he does care about his family a lot- and that includes you."

There were over a hundred pictures on the wall, all of them framed inside wood and glass. Plenty were sneak shots of the three of them in the forest, taken when they weren't looking. Others included shots of them sleeping in a pile and drooling all over each other, fighting over food and lots of other silly stuff. Heck, there were even shots of them sleeping haphazardly on bushes or the ground, completely burned out after Garp put them through his training from hell.

Somewhere in the mix, Sabo also saw a picture of a younger Garp with a woman, and a young boy who was most likely his wife and son.

This was the first time Sabo had ever seen a picture of Garp's wife and Dragon as a child.

Unlike her husband and son, who both had black hair and a matching frown, the woman had short, wavy chestnut hair and sported a bright warm smile that reminded Sabo of Luffy's. But not as wide as his, and without all the shiny teeth.

 _This must be Luffy's grandmother._  He thought.  _He kind of looks like her._

"She probably isn't alive any longer, since no one's ever mentioned her." Sabo muttered to himself.

Sabo wondered how Luffy's life would have been and by extension them if she was still around. If she married someone like Garp, and mothered a 'Dragon' she would have had a strong-willed personality to match their own. Would Garp have been able to put them through his hellish training without any consequences?

 _Probably not._  He knew first-hand how some women could be when it came to children (minus his own birth mother). They were unreasonably overprotective, and would give everyone and anyone hell for trying to 'train' them.  _Seriously, who knew what she would have done if Garp had even hinted that he intended to throw five-year olds into forests and ravines and make them fight wild animals?_

His gaze moved to young Dragon. He could imagine the unbelieving reactions he would receive if he told his fellow revolutionaries that their leader was once young; in their eyes, he was ageless.

He should make sure to make copies of young Dragon's pictures without his parents, before they left.

It would make for great blackmail material, or rather make an incredibly large fortune. He knew for a fact that many of his colleagues were closet fans, who would do anything to know more about their hero.

 _He looks almost the same._  Sabo noted, comparing an image of the Dragon he knew to the one in the picture. The Dragon in the picture looked almost like a mini version of the current older one, minus the mysterious tattoos on his face.

He searched the pictures, looking to see if there were any embarrassing bits he could tell Iva (Ivankov would be delighted) about later. As he went through a few more, he realized that even as a child, Dragon had the same unreadable expression, the same hairstyle and no hint of a smile at all. Pretty much the way he is now.

Maybe the rumours about their esteemed leader being born with an expression made of unbreakable steel were not so farfetched.

There were many others that showed more of them as one happy family and some others of Luffy and Ace as they grew up. When the trio became two.

Sabo found himself speechless, as he looked over the pictures one by one.

"Do you blame him, Sabo?" The mayor said solemnly, calling the Chief of Staff by his name for the first time.

"…I don't know."

"You lost a brother, and he lost a grandson. He's hurting just as much as you are."

"But not as much as Luffy." The blonde muttered under his breath. The pain, anger and hurt he had felt when he  ** _realised_**  Ace was gone surfaced again, and he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"Not as much as Luffy, yes." Woop Slap readily agreed. "But hurting nonetheless."

Breathing deeply, Sabo managed to somehow get his emotions under control. He turned to face the mayor, his face a mask of calm.

"Why are you showing me all of this? What do you want me to do?"

The old man looked him straight in the eyes. "If you get the chance to meet Garp while you're here, give him a chance to speak. Hear him out before you run away or punch him like that ban…" The mayor cut himself off with an irritated huff,  _was he speaking about Dadan? It must have been one hell of punch for him to mention it._

Calmly, he said, "He took your supposed death hard too, it would do you both well to find peace with each other."

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and hobbled out of the door, leaving Sabo in the room all alone with memories.

"I'm going back to the bar. You can leave whenever you're done, just remember to lock up. I'll leave the keys on the table downstairs."

* * *

It took Sabo several minutes to shake himself out of the daze he was stuck in, and to begin exploring the wall. Once he began he couldn't stop, it was a treasure hoard displaying in front of his eyes the lives of his brothers whom he held closest to his heart after he had left them behind.

Seeing Ace and Luffy grow up, how their body and faces changed with the passing of time. Luffy losing the chubbiness of his cheeks (but not his smile, thankfully). Ace getting taller and muscular, his shoulders getting broader with each year, as did his freckles which spread out all over his cheeks. Sabo thought he saw some spreading downwards.  _But that's not possible, is it?_

He found himself laughing, and then sobbing, and then repeating the process in an endless, vicious circle.

It eventually got too much that he had to shift his gaze from the wall of pictures to find himself staring with blurry eyes at another one also filled to the brim.

Sabo blinked.

This wall, unlike the other one that was full of pictures, was filled with colourful notes, and a few napkins that had been crudely scribbled on. Some of them were hardly readable even with the size the words were written in. They were all well-kept and held a great deal to their writer, but time had done his job, leaving some too faded to read.

Sabo looked closely at the scattered notes, trying to find some kind of pattern or clue on where to begin reading. He noticed that some of the notes had various stains on them and smelled faintly of either food or sake. He couldn't really tell, and frankly, he didn't want to know either.

Sabo moved closer, trying to decipher one of the notes that had caught his eyes with its bright pink colour, mouthing the words aloud as he tried to understand.

"Luffy meets his new big brother."

And moving to another one randomly.

"Ace and Luffy brought me a new brat! I have three grandsons now, and three future marines!"

"Luffy ate more meat than me, the boy is getting bigger! Bwahahahaha!"

"Took my three cute grandchildren for training and spending quality time with their dear grandpa."

"Ace protected his brother from my fist, how cute! In the end they both tasted my fist filled with love."

"My three cute grandchildren are going to grow up to be the best marine admirals ever! Bwahahahaha!"

 _This is a diary._  Sabo realized. On a wall, without dates or any context.

As expected from Garp, the notes had no order. They were utterly random, hardly readable and filled with spelling errors, with some of the mistakes being so embarrassing he'd rather not remember. But the way each one of them was carefully put on the wall showed how important they were to the old man. They were his treasure, maybe even the only thing he had left of them.

The three little boys whose story this room told, had all left on their own journeys.

One had escaped and forgotten his past with them, one had gone to search for an adventure, to achieve his dream and fulfil a promise, and one...one had left on a journey of no return, his story already at its end.

Sabo sighed, guilt suddenly welling up inside. Hearing it from the mayor was one thing, but to actually see how much Garp cared for them was another. _Stupid mayor._  He thought, thinking back to the words Woop Slap had said before he left.  _Like hell I'd run away._

As he moved to look at the next note, a crumpled piece of paper in a corner of the room caught his eye. Walking over, Sabo picked it up and gently tried to smooth it out.

He was really surprised that it wasn't torn. It was full of creases and wrinkles, indicating that someone had crumpled and smoothed it several times.

With raised eyebrows, Sabo eyed the paper and burst out laughing, holding his empty hand to his stomach.

He tried to get a grip of himself, but once he looked at the paper again the laughter bubbled up and out of his mouth. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears of mirth.

It was a wanted poster.

Specifically, Luffy's first one.

And written on it was Garp's very distinct handwriting.

"The red-haired bastard's fault, going to flay his hide."

Below it was added, what seemed to be an afterthought.

"At least it was a high bounty, as expected from my grandson."

The Chief of Staff could just imagine how smug the marine hero must've been when the bounty first came out. Of course, after the initial furious outburst -Damn you Luffy, you should be a marine!- had subsided. Sabo knew Garp well enough to guess what his reaction would be, not to mention he had pretty much yelled it every time the brothers said they were going to be pirates.

 _Probably strained some poor sod's nerves. Knowing Garp, it would have been a few poor sods'. And one of them would be named Sengoku._  He felt for the Fleet Admiral (not really), having a subordinate like Garp was a HUGE pain in the ass.

Sabo sat on the floor breathing heavily. He rubbed his eyes, leaving the poster on the ground.

He froze suddenly as a thought struck him. If there was a wanted poster of Luffy, did that mean…?

He stood up and began searching around the room. If there was one, it was quite probably crumpled up just like Luffy's. A quick search revealed nothing however, to Sabo's disappointment. He had been sure that there would've been one.

He shifted his gaze around, seeing if he missed any place, his eyes finally landing on the bed across the room where something caught his eye. There was something sticking out from underneath the pillows.

Sabo carefully took it out, revealing a smoothed-out paper. It was Ace's wanted poster, his first one.

It had several spots on it that Sabo thought looked like tear stains, and looked like it had been given the same treatment as Luffy's, as expected. Ace's smirking face looked faded in the poster that was at least three years old, and so were the words written in red ink across the bounty below.

"Ungrateful shitty brat! Going off like that!"

Below it was another line.

"I didn't even get to give him his birthday present."

Sabo had a sad smile on his face. He wondered if when Ace left three years ago at seventeen, the old man had had a premonition about Ace's fate as he wrote these words.

Garp wasn't stupid, that much he knew. In fact, the vice admiral was probably much smarter than he let on.

Slightly naive (not to mention moronic) sometimes, but not stupid.  _He just doesn't bother to use his brain, something that for better or worse, was inherited by Luffy,_  mused Sabo.

With Ace's poster in hand, he moved over to where he had left Luffy's and picked it up, placing both on the nightstand next to the bed.

_I wonder what he'd say if he knew I joined his son._

_…_

_It'd most likely be something along the lines of 'You shitty brat! How dare you go and die and then join my stupid son and his stupid army!'._

_…_

_Yeah…sounds about right._

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Sabo didn't know how long he stayed there, touching and examining each picture.

If it wasn't for Koala's voice calling him, he probably would have stayed there until it got too dark for him to see.

"The mayor said you were occupied." Koala said as Sabo locked the door behind him. "Told us to leave you alone for a while."

After Woop Slap had dragged Sabo out -or rather, after Sabo had allowed himself to be dragged out- of the bar, Koala and Makino had engaged into a heated discussion about their accommodation. Makino had offered to let them stay at her place since she lived alone, but Koala had insisted they stay at the inn so as to not cause trouble for the kind barmaid.

All the while, Hack simply watched them in amusement.

Their discussion eventually came to an end when Mayor Woop Slap walked through the doors, the blue-coated revolutionary nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Sabo?" Makino asked the mayor as she laid out his lunch for him. The old man simply picked up his cutlery and told them he was busy, and would probably want to be left alone for a while.

That 'a while' soon turned into several hours, and Koala found herself glaring impatiently at the slowly darkening sky.

"Where. Is. He." She growled, her foot tapping against the ground impatiently.

The both of them had been sitting in Makino's bar all day, and after meeting nearly the entire village-who were indefinitely curious about the trio-and still no sign of their commander, the female deputy's temper exploded.

"Oi oi, Koala. What's got ya so angry?" One of the villagers asked, a large glass of ale in hand. He was evidently drunk, his flushed face giving away his condition.

Koala was too busy being angry, so Hack answered instead.

"We've been waiting for a friend of ours, but he isn't back yet, so she's worried."

"I am not worried dammit, I just don't like to be kept waiting." She huffed while standing up.

"Wait, Koala where are you going?" shouted Hack, putting the still untouched mug of ale - that was shoved onto him by one of the villagers despite his constant refusal,  _stop being shy and mingle_ they told him cheerily- on the table as he hurriedly followed her.

"Looking for the moron obviously."

 _Looking for the moron_  ended up being a code phrase for Koala stomping around and shouting Sabo's name loudly every few steps. Ignoring completely the people opening their windows to stare in curiosity at the entertainment. None of them complained about the noise, it was like they were used to something similar often happening around these parts.

"We could just ask the mayor, you know?" Hack eventually said after he got tired, and a bit embarrassed of watching his friend shouting her head off at the air, and suggested the first thing they should have done when they decided to go Sabo-hunting.

"Ah, you're right. The mayor would know!" Koala gasped as she realised what she had been doing up until now was an utter waste of time.

One of the watching people, hearing their conversation helpfully pointed out Woop Slap's home.

"Go to the left and you'll find the mayor there."

"Is your Sabo the blonde boy with the top hat? If you're looking for him, he's probably at Garp's house. It's the only house on the hill near the harbour."

"Sabo is the name of that pretty boy?"

Another complained, "What? The show ended already?"

"Noooooooo, I just brought out the popcorn and soda!"

"Keep going!"

"Feel free to come back and shout whenever you want, darling."

"Bring your Sabo with you!"

"Yeah, you have a beautiful voice!"

Koala was mortified as she grabbed Hack and hurriedly escaped in the direction of the hill.

"Hack, we are never, ever speaking about this!"

"Hmm ... w..."

"EVER!"

…

As the people watched the duo speed off, one of them, a man in his mid-thirties commented offhandedly to his companions.

"Sabo, huh? Why does that name seem kind of familiar?"

"It does ring a bell, doesn't it?"

"Hmmmmm...Sabo..."

* * *

Having successfully recovered the missing Sabo, the Revolutionaries returned to the village, only to find a new group of people sitting at a table in the bar.

"Found your boyfriend, sweetie?" One of the men called out as he noticed Koala enter the bar with Sabo and Hack next to her.

"Someone you know?" Sabo cocked a curious eyebrow towards his friend who had turned red all of a sudden.

"S-shut up! It's n-none of your business!" She stuttered out, before whirling on the person who had said that. "And he's not my boyfriend!"

"Could've fooled us there, little miss." Another guffawed as he downed a large mug of a face redder than a tomato, a distraught Koala disappeared into the kitchens in the blink of an eye, startling Makino who had been busy cooking in the back.

"Well I'll be. Never thought she was so shy, given how she had been shouting back there."

 _Shouting?_  Sabo wondered, trading a questioning look with Hack. _Is there something I should know about?_  His raised eyebrow indicated.

 _Trust me, you don't want to know unless…_  Hack squinted pointedly at the kitchens.

Sabo understood immediately, shaking his head slightly.  _You're right. I don't. Totally not worth it._

"So,  ** _you're_**  Sabo." The man who had first called out to Koala turned on him, his gaze roaming over the blonde searchingly. "You don't look like much…"

"Why thank you," Sabo returned sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"But you do look familiar. What do you guys think?" The latter half was directed at the few other men seated at the table.

The Chief of Staff blinked at the unexpected answer and sudden change of topic.

 _I look familiar?_  But… "Do I know you?" asked Sabo eyeing the men sitting around the table. He couldn't say he had the best memory (yes, he did a pun on himself, YAY) but they didn't seem familiar. And nothing about them was out of the ordinary. They basically looked like any other villager Sabo had met so far, maybe except the way the man spoke.

The man shrugged. "I don't know. Do you? The name's Mox, by the way." He gestured at the other four. "And these guys over here are Kohr, Jerry, Sim and Spooky."

"Hey! My name ain't Spooky, you dimwit! It's Caleb! C.A.L.E.B! Caleb!" A man who, in both Sabo and Hack's opinion, rather fit his apparent nickname dissented loudly, only for Mox to nonchalantly wave him off, like he was already used to it. Given his attitude, he probably was.

"Whatever. Spooky. Anyway," Mox continued, dismissing Caleb's incessant yelling of  _how many times do I have to say it, my name is NOT Spooky_  easily. "As I was saying, I don't know you. I just thought your name sounded familiar."

"Yeah, and something about the top hat too..." Jerry gestured with his drink in Sabo's direction.

That was strange.

While Sabo had known about the village, he had never been to it himself. This detour was actually the first time he was setting foot in Foosha village. Some random villager couldn't have heard his name before when they never even knew he existed.

 _Unless..._ A thought occurred to Sabo. But what were the chances that he'd meet someone from  ** _there_  **here? In fact, why would they be here in the first place? This place wasn't somewhere they would willingly choose to live in, was it? Not when they lived in that "wonderful" dum... ** _mountain_**  of resources.

On the off-chance that they were from that place, what would he do? His inner self shrugged.  _Since when did you bother thinking about stuff like this?_  It chastised.  _You always just do and don't think._

True. Thinking too much would hurt the brain, as proven by Luffy more times than he'd bothered to count.

"Mox," Sabo spoke, pulling himself from his thoughts. Their gazes met, and suddenly, he was sure.

Mox had a particular look in his eyes that the Revolutionary second-in-command knew very well.

It was somewhat suppressed, but the blonde recognised it easily.

"You're not originally from Foosha village, are you?" It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Mox took a mouthful from his mug and smirked.

"No, I'm not."

* * *

**On the other side of Dawn Island, Goa Kingdom harbour.**

"Remind me to wring Sabo's neck next time we see him." Crutch muttered as he collapsed into a chair in the galley, utterly exhausted from a day of role-playing. Even though it was officially a mission, the navigator still felt the need to voice a complaint against his superior "delegating" his responsibilities to him. "I'm so not cut out for this kind of stuff," he muttered to himself under his breath.

Reading the weather, dealing with unorthodox deadly seas? Yes. But masquerading as a merchant and collecting information? No. That was Sabo 'The Gentleman's' job, not his. He made sure they didn't stray from course and made it through killer storms.

He didn't sign up for this shit.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a chorus of replies ( _ **cough***_ excuses _ ***cough**_ ) arose in the surrounding space.

"Sure, but you'll have to catch him and hold him down first, and I am not helping you."

"Neither am I."

"Nor I. I like my head in its place, thank you very much."

"You guys are ** _so_**  dependable!" Crutch intoned exasperatedly.

"You could always ask Koala for help!" A certain idiot suggested, to which the navigator responded with a groan.

"Noooo, thank you, I'll take my chances alone."  _His chances of survival would probably be higher._

"Only if you can beat him, buddy." Someone else laughed.

"Worry not, I'll remind you first thing when we see him." A new recruit volunteered. _Ah...how nice it must be to be this ignorant._

"We'll be cheering for you". (whispers *from a hidden corner somewhere*)

"What do you say his chances are?" _And~~cue the betting pool._

"1 to 10?"

"Nah, you're being too generous, 1 to 100 is more like it."

"I bet 100 belis that Sabo would take him down in 10 seconds."

"200 hundred on 5 seconds."

"300 hundred on Koala seeing Crutch charging and punching him in the face first."

"She is quite protective of Sabo."

"Yeah, it's very sweet."

"Troublesome you mean."

"Really, I think it's more of her being possessive of her own stress reliever slash punching bag."

"Ah...young love."

"Dude, you do not want to let her hear you say that."

"That too, but I meant her philosophy of  ** _beat the shit out of them first, then ask questions._** "

"Which always take hours, because we need to wait for them to wake up."

"That's what ice water is for."

"Works ** _almost_**  every time."

"Like a charm~"

"500 on Koala beating them both up!"

Choruses of laughter and agreement greeted this 'true' statement.

"You guys have no faith in me, do you?" Crutch complained, his shoulders slumping into the chair.

None bothered to reply.  _It was obvious, wasn't it?_

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Guest reviewers do use a name/nickname please, for us to be able to answer you probably :)

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**A review = more motivation= more writing= faster update ;)**


	4. Survivors

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This story is written by both  **Nohryn**  and  **r** **oseanne** , you are welcome to check our other works.

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The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful **Black' Victor Cachat ( Fanfiction.net) **, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.

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**This story is posted on both _Archives of Our Own_ &  _Fanfiction.net_ (under Syrisna and Rose7anne101)**

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We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).

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Mornings were never Crutch’s favourite time of day, especially when mornings meant that he had to get up to work. It was a well-known fact amongst the _ Liberty’s  _ crew that their chief navigator was a bit of a sourpuss when it came to getting out of bed, as the man loved his “beauty” sleep, but alas, his work often demanded that he sacrifice his sleep.

Even more so now that he had been put in charge (the whole group of bastards ignoring his refusals and objections) of this part of the mission. One of the “perks” was he had to wake up every damn morning at this ungodly hour.

Under normal circumstances, when their Chief of Staff was **_present_ ** , there was a high chance that Sabo would not bother to wake him, and simply take charge of the navigation. Their Chief of Staff was an accomplished navigator, yet unfortunately had the bad --and annoying-- habit of not sticking to the plan, which in the end meant that Crutch had to clean up after his stupid blonde superior.  Still, at least then he could do so while well rested.

Said bastard was all the way on the other side of Dawn Island now though, probably still sleeping in comfy bed while Crutch was suffering through every second.

God knew how many times Crutch had asked himself whatever had he done --something in this life or the previous one possibly-- to be placed at the mercy of such an erratic boss. JUST WHY? And why did he have to be put in charge during the bra...boss’s absences? That was never part of the plan! Or was it, and the bra...Sabo had been messing with him the whole time? He admits that he hadn’t been all there when they discussed the plan , but surely he would have at least remembered  _ this _ part!!

Reluctantly, Crutch wriggled out of bed, flopping ungracefully onto the floor below , slamming a hand on the alarm clock beneath his bed to silence it.

After a few minutes, he pushed himself up, sending dull glares towards the rest of the room’s occupants of their shared room.

Slowly standing up, the navigator staggered towards the nearest bed and looked down on the person in it. Still hazy with sleep, it took a few seconds for Crutch’s mind to register that it was Jona, their shipwright.

Jona remained sound asleep and blissfully unaware of the looming figure over him.

Crutch swiftly rectified that with a swift, precise kick to the guts, sending the shipwright flying over two more beds and into the cabin’s wall.

The resulting crash was successful in waking up  **_everyone_ ** , and by everyone he didn’t mean only this room.

“What the! What was that for, asshole?!” A now very much awake Jona demanded, picking himself off the wall, clutching his stomach.

The look that Crutch directed his way was enough to immediately shut him up.

“If I don’t get to sleep in…” He levelled the same look at everyone present.

“No. One. Does. Either.”

Whoever said misery loves company knew exactly what he was talking about.

Sabo stretched languidly as he sat up in bed, waking from a peaceful sleep for the first time in forever.

He looked around him, expecting to see the familiar wooden walls of his room aboard the  _ Liberty _ , and was surprised to find himself in an unfamiliar room with walls painted a soothing green, and without the gentle rocking of the waves.

This wasn’t his room, he remembered. This was the room he shared with Hack at Foosha Village’s inn.

Everything that happened the day before come rushing back to him. Arriving to Foosha, meeting Makino and the mayor, visiting Garp’s home and finding all those photos and notes that were dedicated to his grandsons. Sabo’s sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

He was surprised to find that he had restful sleep. Maybe it was because of the exhausting day he had or maybe it was because he was on Dawn Island, his birthplace where his most treasured memories had been created that the dreams which had been plaguing him since Ace’s death decided to leave him alone (For now at least).

All things aside, he was glad that he'd gotten some decent sleep.

Setting foot on Dawn meant that their mission was officially underway, and Sabo needed to be at his best if the mission were to proceed smoothly.

Lack of sleep tended to screw up missions like nothing else.

Getting out of bed, Sabo saw that the other bed was already made, which meant that Hack, and likely Koala too, were already awake. Although he was assuming, since Koala had her own room, except the brunette always woke up early so it wouldn’t be farfetched.

Several voices could be heard distinctly through the wooden floorboards, and the blonde easily recognized his comrades’ and the warm, kindly one that belonged to Irene, the innkeeper. They sounded like they were talking about something amusing, if Koala’s constant giggles were any indication.

Smoothing out the creases in his clothes, Sabo made use of the adjoining bathroom to freshen up before putting on his coat and boots and making his way downstairs to the lobby/dining area, where he was sure he’d find his friends.

As expected, Koala and Hack were sitting at a table, enjoying a simple breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, while Irene chatted with them from behind the counter.

With a mischievous smile on his face, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army stepped silently and purposely, positioning himself behind Koala who was still busy talking and waving her hand to stress her point while the other hand was stirring her coffee. Hack was deliberately not looking at him.

Holding his breath and making his body movement light till they were near inaudible. Well, inaudible to  _ ordinary  _ humans.

Sabo was about to descend his hands dramatically upon her shoulders intending to scare her.

“Don’t even try, Sabo.” Koala spoke suddenly, breaking off her conversation with Irene and without even turning to face him , she added plainly, “I know you’re behind me attempting one of your childish tricks. Again.”

Sabo could hear the _ tsk, tsk _ in her tone.

Sighing, Sabo went around the table and slid in next to Hack, who gave him a sympathetic smile accompanied with shake of his head as if to say, ‘Did you really expect that to work?’.  

Apparently, the blonde in his cheerful state (not being sleep deprived) had completely forgot that this was Koala-his best friend and deputy extraordinaire. And like him, she didn’t exactly fall into the category of ‘ordinary’.

“Couldn’t hurt to try.” Sabo pouted earning a glare from Koala as Irene laid a plate filled with triple servings of breakfast in front of him and huge cup of newly brewed coffee, with a chirpy ‘enjoy your meal’.

Stirring her own coffee, Koala rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. Now, SPILL.” The sole female of their group demanded.

“Spill what?”  _  My coffee _ ? Sabo wondered confusedly, his face scrunched up.  _ I have yet to touch the heavenly smelling beverage. _

Koala ignored the ear-piercing squeal of ‘cute’ by Irene. Sabo in his turn, got more confused. Cute? What? Who? Koala?

“Don’t give me that,” Koala was scowling at him.  _ What did he do? Cute she wasn’t. _

“I saw you talking to those guys at Makino’s bar last night, but Hack said if I wanted to know, I should ask you personally. So I’m asking  _ you _ . So spill.”

Oh...maybe he could use the lack of coffee as his excuse for the lack of brain cell function.  

Sabo shrugged while taking a cautious sip of the steaming hot ‘brain stimulator’. “There isn’t really much to talk about. They were just a few sort-of acquaintances from back then.”

“Sort-of?”

Sabo considered this as he took a longer sip, enjoying the hot liquid sliding down his throat and feeling considerably more refreshed.

“Yes. Sort-of.”

The conversation from last night came back to him...

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**Yesterday Evening**

” Pray tell, how did five gentlemen from the Grey Terminal -such as yourself- end up at this little village that’s like all the way on the other side of Dawn Island?” Sabo asked in an excessively cheerful tone, while his eyes eyed the group sharply.

“Hmmmm...” hummed the one called Mox, who seemed like the ‘uncrowned’ leader of the group.

“Should we give him the long version or the short one...” Sim wondered with a weary sigh.

Before Sabo could open his mouth, another person - Jerry- said, his voice had an unmistakable grimacing quality.

“The short version is that we were running blindly like mice with their tails on fire,” he paused and added, “literally”.

The short version was very informative, yet lacking at the same time, Sabo thought. He should have known before he had asked.

The Grey Terminal fire nine years ago.

Of course.

The day he lost a life and gained a new one.

Apparently, it wasn’t only him.

The others around the table had an amused look on their faces that was tinged with sadness.

“For the long version you better sit down,” muttered Mox finally.

“Two chairs coming up,” Sim said after exchanging a look with Mox, adding to the impression that he was some kind of leader.  

“Hey Spooky, scoot over, make place will you,” demanded Kohr, who was pushing the chairs together.

“You a**hole, the name’s Celeb! C. E. L. E. B!” Spooky shouted while moving around to make some space for the new guests.

“Ohhh, you know how to spell?”

“That’s cool man, how do you spell Spooky then?”

“Agehhhh… you morons, son of ...”

“I am going to bring more drinks, this is going to be a long night,” Kohr said, while standing up and heading to the bar.

Sabo wasn’t sure if he meant the story or the ongoing fight between Celeb and the others.

Sabo took the offered chair with a nod and sat down.

“Wasn't Caleb with an A when he spelled it a minute ago?” whispered the still standing Hack.

“I am sure that that’s beside the point right now,” Sabo whispered back, who eyed the back and forth fight with nostalgia. In his eyes, their banter was as meagre as could be. His brothers and him had been much worse when they got going.

You couldn't find two more stubborn people than Ace and Luffy. He wondered if they had stayed the same as they grew up (Sabo ignored the inner voice that repeated the words “without you”). Then Sabo chided himself, of course they had, he was talking about Luffy and Ace here.  

And that was how Sabo and Hack found themselves sitting in a tight fit at a table with five others, a mountain of drinks and snacks littering the tablespace in front of them.

“Lemme tell you, that night was one of the worst times ever…” Mox started, his face had a faraway look on it that suited the gloomy mood that appeared when Mox opened his mouth.

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**The night of the Grey Terminal fire, 10 years ago.**

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Mox had seen the activities of Bluejam’s men. At first, he wasn’t too curious about it, those pirates always had something going on, and he had better stuff to do than watch a bunch of shipwrecked monkeys fool around, like looking for more plywood he could use to plug the stupid leak in his shelter, or scavenging for things he could sell in Edge town.

Except then two small figures caught his attention as he recognised two of the three devil brats following them. Apparently, those brats were also ‘helping,’ or _ in _ on whatever it was, but he had shrugged and hadn’t bothered finding out what exactly it was they were up to. It was better -not to mention safer- to stay away from whatever was going on, he thought, and continued with his usual business.

Worst decision he’d ever made.

If he had gotten off his ass and maybe snooped around some, he might’ve found out that Bluejam was planning to set the entire Gray Terminal on fire, despite the many denizens who lived in the trash mountains.

If he had, he wouldn’t be stuck here now, amid blazing flames, desperately trying to find a way out. His only comfort was that he wasn’t alone. There were a few others stranded with him, all people he’d seen around, yet never cared enough to get to know them. Right now, though, he was beyond glad that there were at least a few familiar faces with him.

When you lived in the junk heap, you couldn't get too close with other people. You would have to share, and people would ask you for help. It was hard enough to survive on your own dammit. But sometimes it got too damn lonely.

Only sometimes.

Not that he’d admit it if anyone asked.

The tall, stocky one whom he knew as Kohr was gripping tightly onto a long metal pipe, swatting at the flames in hope of finding a more traversable path.

“Damn it!” Khor cursed. “The fire’s too big! I can’t see anything!”

“It’s getting harder and harder to breath,” a strangled voice complained.  

Indeed, if they didn’t get out soon, they would die out of smoke inhalation and suffocation. Some dark part of his mind pointed out that at least they wouldn't feel it when their bodies become a barbecued chicken.   

A lanky blonde cursed in response. “Can you at least see the forest?”

“I think so. What about it?”

“If we can get into the forest we should be safe from the fire! There’s a hidden path that cuts through the cliff into the forest from the dump. If we can get to it, we can get out of here!”

Mox looked at him incredulously. “Wouldn’t the forest also be on fire? Wood freaking burns, in case you didn’t know. And how do you know about the path anyway?”

The blonde, Sim shrugged. “Not all of us are on those devil brats’ bad side, you know.”

The devil brats? Weren't they in on it?  He saw them helping the bastards, Bluejam’s men. But...but ...They didn't seem to get along with that bastard Bluejam and they, like many others used this place to forage for things to use. So, it didn't make any sense that they would be involved... Now was not the time to wonder about this shit, he snapped inwardly to himself.

“Meaning?” He growled, patience running dangerously low.

“I followed them once, and saw them use the path to get into the forest. And no, the forest wouldn’t catch fire. There are cliffs on this side of the forest that’s out of the fire’s reach, dumba**. At most the cliff sides will be burnt. Also, the trees are further in.” Sim explained.

“Guys,” Jerry, the only person of the group whom Mox knew and was  _ almost _ friendly with (he didn't need a freaking fire to find out his name) suddenly spoke, there was an urgency in his tone. “Maybe we should save the talking for later and just get the hell out now?!”

A sudden wave of intense heat washed over them as the fire flared, and the thinnest of the bunch, a sullen-looking man with glasses started hacking uncontrollably.

“You, blondie. You know which way the path is, right?” Mox spun on Sim, immediately assuming the role of leader of their escape crew.

“Yeah.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Lead the way!”

It took them almost too long to find the path that Sim told them about, especially since the fire and smoke were getting more intense which caused them to almost miss it. Caleb, the man with glasses was pretty much knocked out from the smoke , and was being carried by Kohr while Jerry and Sim were both supporting Mox who had gotten injured when they left the sea of fire and escaped into luscious vegetation.

It might have been their imagination playing tricks on them -or they were too out of it and remembered wrongly- but just as they reached the tree line, there was a sudden gust of wind and the heat behind them diminished considerably.

However, at that point all of them were drenched in sweat and exhausted, yet the thought of the raging fire behind them still pushed them to keep walking, even though they were already out of its immediate reach.

The occasional sounds of the midnight forest only added to the fuel, instilling a primal fear of the creatures that were rumoured to roam the mountain.

The constant snaps of branches and twigs underneath their feet didn't help their nerves either. If anything, it  _ fuelled _ their wild imagination.

They trudged through the forest, stumbling blindly through thick undergrowth and huge winding trees for who knew how long until the trees thinned out and a quaint little village illuminated by the moonlight came into view.

The survivors of the Grey Terminal were beside themselves with joy at the sight.

“…Did any of you know…there was a village on the other side of Mount Corvo?” Mox asked, slightly out of breath as he limped to the front with Jerry and Sim supporting him with their arm s around his waist.

Mox had unfortunately received a large burn on his right lower calf when the fire spiked, and the edge of the flames lapped at it as they pushed through to the path, successfully incapacitating the man.

“No…” Came the unanimous answer from the rest of their group. If they had, they would've long ago braved the forest of Mount Corvo and its beasts, for nothing more than a chance at a better life.

“We've escaped…haven't we?” Sim realised. They were on the other side of the mountain, a place where no one from the dump had ever been before; although he had a nagging suspicion the devil brats knew about it, seeing as they assumedly went through the forest on a daily basis.  “The Grey Terminal and the fire…we've escaped them…”

What happened afterwards was, as they say, history. The sight of the village elated the five men, providing them with just enough strength to make it down the mountain trail before they fell in a heap right outside the village, the exhaustion rendering them all unconscious.

When they came to, they were all lying in beds (real beds that were made of cotton and linen, not the shit they scraped together and made do with), their wounds cleaned and dressed. Jerry was the first one up, followed by Sim, Kohr, Mox and last of all, Caleb.

It had taken them a while to register their surroundings, and they only broke out of their reverie when the door creaked open and a woman in her late twenties who introduced herself as Irene entered.

Apparently, the glow of the fire could be seen from all the way in Foosha -they had quickly learnt the name of the village- and the clouds of smoke obscuring the stars had alerted the villagers to what was happening on the other side of the island, keeping them up. They were lucky that the villagers were awake, as the villagers had treated them after they brought them to the village. Mox especially, as according to Irene, his burn wound was infected. Had the villagers found them in the morning, there was a good chance that the infection might've escalated to the point that the local doctor couldn't do anything.

The doctor -a man named Pan- came shortly after they woke up, giving each of them a thorough examination before declaring them to be fine, except for Caleb who was put on medication for smoke inhalation, and Mox who was injured.

A week passed before Mox and Caleb were both cleared and allowed to set foot outside, to their relief. Lying in bed all day was starting to get to them, especially since Jerry, Sim and Kohr were already out and about.

“……And then when they found that we had nowhere to go, Woopslap offered for us to stay in the village, and we accepted. End of story.”

Jerry piped in. “And now, the five of us run a junk recycling shop. Anything that’s broken and unwanted is sent to us, and we try to fix and sell it. If it can’t be fixed, we see if we can find another use for it.” He announced, a hint of pride in his voice.

“Putting our long-earned  _ expertise _ into some use,” Khor sighed, there was a tinge of irony in his tone.

“Actually, it was Makino that made us the offer. Woopslap just went along with her.” Caleb spoke, correcting Mox’s statement.

“Although he didn't seem happy about it.” Sim threw in his own two-bits. “He's always grumbling about how we're a bad influence on the villagers and should be returned to wherever we came from.”

“Not that he ever acted on it.”

“It's just how he shows his love, as Makino said, and I quote.”

“Then there was the meeting with the  _ vice admiral _ ...” murmured Jerry soberly.

The whole group groaned.

“It’s kind of ironic, really. You run from fire and the safe haven you find is run by a donut and cracker-addicted gorilla,” grumbled Mox.

Sabo burst out laughing, ‘gorilla’ was an apt description of Monkey D. Garp (no, not because of his surname. At least not completely.). No one paid him any mind, they were in world of their own.

“Scary Gorilla, you mean,” Sim corrected him.

“Scary Cheerful Gorilla,” Khor added, taking a long gulp from his cup.

“Does anyone get what he was always smiling about? There was nothing funny,” Jerry complained.

They all nodded solemnly to each other.

“Scary Cheerful Gorilla that could destroy walls with his little pinkie finger,” Caleb added his two beli to the ongoing  _ description _ .

“The breaking bones part was what bothered me personally,” Mox added nonchalantly, the effect was destroyed by his shaking hand clutching his cup.

Sabo was not sure if he should ask what had happened, not only because they didn't seem to want to speak about it , but because last night left him with turmoil of emotions regarding Garp. He had an inkling that hearing what occurred would not help matters. He opened his mouth to change the subject.

“What exactly happened with Vice - Admiral Garp?” asked Hack.

Sabo tensed. He was wavering about what to do. Should he just stand up and leave? But he had few questions to ask, maybe he could go and then come back later...

Sabo was so busy fretting about the issue that he missed the look the group shared with each other.  

“Let’s just say, we were given acute details and reasons regarding why it is a  _ very, very, very  _ bad idea, to hurt people, to steal, or just about do anything that defies the law, one of them being it is suicidal and plain stupid. Especially if done within the vicinity of V.A Garp, which will also be very painful.”

“Don’t I know it.” Sabo muttered.

“Also, because the earful of nagging that will be dealt out by Makino, Woopslap, and just about everyone in the village really isn’t worth the effort.” Caleb interrupted, pushing up the glasses that had slid down his nose.

“Exactly what he said.” Mox rolled his eyes. “Therefore, we became upstanding, model citizens with respectful jobs who helps anyone in need. We help old ladies cross the street and tree-stranded cats to get down.” Mox ended with a dramatic flair, or rather, an attempt at one.

Hack’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean you still committed crimes after the villagers took you in?”

Sim shrugged nonchalantly. “Old habits die hard. It’s ancient history now anyways.”

Sabo looked unimpressed, his undecidedness had disappeared within hearing the first sentence and he mentally shelved his many issues with Garp to the back of his mind, but few stayed. “So in short, that crazy geezer treated you guys to a _fist banquet_ , and you’re all pansies who don’t dare to go against him.”

“OI! Where do you don’t get off saying that when you don’t even know what we went through!?”

“Nobody should know!”

“Uh, no. Actually, I have a pretty clear idea what Garp did, considering I received similar treatment when I lived here years ago.”

Sabo felt like rubbing his head. One of the disadvantages of getting his memory back was that he could almost feel his head aching after being treated to Garp’s Fist of Love.

He ignored the weird and calculated looks thrown his way, including one from Hack and asked instead.

“You said that while you were running you felt a sudden gust of strong wind , and the heat died down?”

“Hmm. . . not really sure.. . ” Mox began, only to be cut off by an enthusiastic and loud Caleb.

“Yes, it was, I felt it.”

“. . .It could have been our imagination . ..” Mox continued.

“I remember I felt it too, it was weird,” Sim added.

“Yeah, it gave me chills... It wasn’t raining or anything. It just suddenly appeared and that was it.”

“Who cares,” Khor declared. “We were busy staying alive and weird wind or whatever it was changed nothing. We survived.”

There were ‘aye’s and nods all around.

But it did matter, thought Sabo.

Maybe not to them,  although  to all the other survivors of the Gray Terminal that Dragon had saved that day using his powers, it did. Himself included.

He shouldn’t be surprised by Dragon’s powers, yet he still was. The  _ gust  _ of wind he had sent travelled from one end of the island to the other.

As expected of the leader of the Revolutionary Army.   

Sabo eyed the group and the sombre looks that were drawn on their faces. Dragon had saved a lot  of lives  that day, but not all. A good number of people had already fallen victim to the fire by the time Dragon arrived.

Still, chances were that he may have saved some people these five knew. Should he tell them? They probably felt the same way Ace and Luffy felt when they thought he had died. His hand clenched involuntarily.

Mox and the rest had a right to know, and Sabo wanted to tell them, but he couldn't, at least not right now.

He had his responsibilities as a revolutionary.

They were here on an important mission. As the Army’s Chief of Staff, he couldn't afford to have anyone - - specifically people he barely knew or trust ed- \- catch wind about what the  A rmy intended to do here. He couldn’t just tell them that their friends were probably safe either , without raising suspicion and unwanted questions. It was an all or nothing scenario. And right now, it was none.

This group of ex-scavengers  - -no, scratch that, they were still scavengers! Just legal ones this time around - \- had found a place for themselves in this little village, a role to fill, just like he did. It was all thanks to Dragon. The leader of the revolutionaries had given Sabo hope as he did those that he had liberated from the Gray Terminal.

Hope, Home and Purpose.  

_ I’ll let them know, _ Sabo promised himself, _ just before we leave. _

“Hmph.” Mox huffed, eyeing him with a bit of suspicion. “Well, we’re done with our story, now it’s your turn.”

Sabo was still marvelling about how cool and strong his boss apparently was , that the look and question caught him off guard.

“Mine?”

“Yes yours. If it were anyone else asking, we wouldn’t have told them about the Gray Terminal. But you already knew about it anyway.”

Everyone around was looking at him expectantly.

Sabo smiled wryly. “You mean you just want to know who I am, right?”

“Smart guy, aren’t you?”

The Chief of Staff raised a brow, a grin slowly creeping up his face , much like a cat that got its paws on some poor mouse.

“Well, if you must know, you gentlemen have mentioned me quite a few times already in your story.”

It took the five survivors a moment too long to comprehend what Sabo said.

When they finally did…

“The hell, man?!” Kohr was the first to jump to his feet. “You’re one of those ill-mannered brats?!”

Sabo stood up and gave a slight bow complete with a flourish. “Devil brat number 2, at your service.”

They gaped at him, then one by one burst out laughing.

“Did you leave or something, because we only saw the other two devils afterwards,” Jerry remarked.

“Something like that,” Sabo answered vaguely as he sat back down.

“Speaking of them, those two brats came to the village once a few months after the fire actually,” Khor said.

“Luffy and Ace?” Sabo asked to make sure.

“Those were their names. The young brat with the ratty straw hat on his head, and the older one with freckles and a permanent scowl on his face and that freaking deadly pipe on his shoulder,” confirmed Khor.

“Mox rounded on them wanting to teach them a lesson,” Jerry gleefully said. “Barehanded.”

“I saw them helping Bluejam’s men,” Mox argued, sounding irritated.

Sabo was still trying to comprehend the first part to give what Mox said any head.

“What do you mean ‘beat them up’?”

“Don’t worry the one that got the shit beat out of him was Mox.”

“He could hardly walk straight for almost month,”

“None of you even tried to help me!”

“Do we look stupid?”

“Suicidal?”

“We don’t got no death wish, dude.”

“If we had, why bother run from the fire then?”

Mox huffed in annoyance but didn’t deny any of their  _ sound arguments. _

“He got chewed out by Makino after.”

“And Woopslap.”

“And the entire village.”

“Because apparently the younger brat was the village’s ‘baby,’ and could do no wrong-even though he’s a freaking pirate supernova now , and majorly wanted by the government.”

“Talk about adding insult to injury,” Mox mumbled quietly into his cup earning snorts and chuckles.  

“The older brother was ...amhh... What’s the word ...very protective of the younger one.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

Sim cleared his throat and mumbled.

“We saw the news...about his, uh....”

“He seemed like okay bloke, a bit on the angsty and angry side, but okay.”

“Sorry for your loss,” Mox gruffly told him.

Sabo nodded, he did appreciate the sentiment, yet but he didn't want their pity or the awkwardness. He decided to change the subject.

“You said something about them helping Bluejam’s men?”

“Yeah, as I said I saw them helping the bastards that lit the fire.”

That was really strange. Ace would never help the bastard , and definitely wouldn’t have dragged Luffy into it. Was it because of him? After he had gone back with his called father. Did something else happen? Had Bluejam tricked them? Threatened? Blackmailed them? Used him somehow.. .

“I lost my home in the fire, it wasn't much mind you, but it was still a home,” he stopped to take a gulp of his drink and added, “and it was still a rather fresh wound, so when I saw them in the village I kind of just snapped. Which, now that I think about it, was extremely stupid of me when I couldn’t even beat them on a good day...I should have asked them civilly first.”

The group as one snorted. Mox continued ignoring their reaction.

“That said, the older brother said that they helped, but didn't know about the explosives in the boxes. They would have never done it if they knew.”

“The young brat shouted angrily that Bluejam lied to them, and that the fire had took from them something more precious than our home and that we should shut up,” Sim added thoughtfully.

Sabo felt a lump form on his throat

“Both of the brats had a pained look on their faces,” Khor said quietly.

“Yeah, that was the only time that they didn't make any eye contact,” Jerry confirmed.

_ His fault. _

“I was sure the the younger brat would burst out crying any second,” Caleb mumbled, hiccupping.

There were nods all around.

_ He was the reason for the tears. _

Sabo tried not to imagine Luffy’s teary face, but failed when the image of Luffy crying just after he and Ace had rescued him from Porchemy came to mind, and Sabo cringed when he thought of his little brother shedding tears.

Crying didn’t suit Luffy. Smiling that big, idiotic, sunny smile of his did. The same went for Ace, even though he knew his older brother by two months would be sad, he simply couldn’t picture Ace crying.

Ace was too proud to cry. And then Ace would have had his hands full trying to act tough and strong to help Luffy move on. But at least he had someone to help him with his grief.

A thought struck him, and he felt like puking. All that talk relating to the fire brought on a thought about a minor detail he had forgotten about, and he felt his stomach churn. Did his letter reach them? When? Oh God.

Was it before or after they thought he died? How long...

No, it would have been better if it didn't reach them at all.

His own words that he had written down echoed in his head; “We brothers should become pirates one of these days, then we can meet somewhere out there. The ocean is vast and free. We’ll meet again someday! Another thing, are you the oldest brother, or am I? It may be weird to have two older brothers and one little brother, but the bond we share is the greatest treasure I have. Luffy is still little and a cry-baby to boot... But he is still our little brother. Take care of him.”

When he wrote those words, he meant them as a promise, not as a goodbye. Yet they had ended up as both.

Ace and Luffy had become notorious pirates, their infamy known across the seas. They had left to the vast oceans, keeping their end of the promise, while he didn’t even know they existed. Wait, that wasn’t right. He knew they existed, but he didn’t remember them. Not how precious they were, or the bonds they shared.

He had written that their bond is his greatest treasure but, in the end, they were the only ones who did any treasuring.

When he left, he thought it was the best course of action (he had no idea he would be shot and almost die) and he knew that Ace would take good care of Luffy as his big brother. Except he didn't intend for his departure to become an unbearable burden.

“Did we ever find out what they lost?” asked Jerry , thoughtfully.

_ I’m what they lost. _ Sabo felt the guilt drawn him.

Ace had died thinking that, however, and Sabo swore to rectify the matter with Luffy, his only remaining brother.

He would find him no matter what he had to do, and would beg on his knees, asking for forgiveness. And if Luffy never wanted to see him again, wanted to sever a bond that he thought was dead, so be it. It didn’t mean that Sabo would stop considering him as his brother. That was impossible, but somewhere where his privacy was guaranteed, he would probably be bawling his eyes out and drenching his pillow in tears of misery. Nevertheless, he would accept whatever that came, even death.

He owed him  _ at least  _ that. As his big brother. The one that was left.   

“Nah, I didn’t have the heart to ask, not when the kid looked like a kicked puppy with those teary eyes,” Sim answered him.

“None of us did,” Khor agreed.

“The way A... the older bra...brother spoke about Bluejam made it seem like he hated him more than we do, and we hate him a lot.”

“Despise his arse,” Caleb yelled drunkenly and loudly.

“What does that even mean? Despise his arse. I would despise your  _ arse  _ if it come in front of me,” Sim demanded earning sniggers from the group.

It took few minutes, but frowning Caleb finally murmured.

“Despise  **the** arse, happy now?”  

“Yes, thank you,” Sim answered calmly and then suddenly shuddered before he added to himself. “That what we need imaging the arse  _ arse _ .”

The group burst laughing, Sabo found himself joining them with an amused smile, his dark thoughts forgotten for a while (they were not going anywhere).

“Hearing that Bluejam died in the fire he started was one piece of good news.”

“Yeah, we partied for days.”

“Karma at work.”

“Good riddance, I say.”

“They do say karma’s a bitch.”

**Present Day**

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“...And after that, you came out from the kitchen , and we went to the inn.” Sabo finished lamely.

“So those guys were from the Gray Terminal,” Koala asked for confirmation. When Sabo told them of his past, the name ‘Gray Terminal’ had come up a lot, since he’d spent pretty much his entire childhood there.  “And you know them.”

The only blonde in their midst scratched his head. “Yes, and no.”

“What do you mean?” Koala looked at him in confusion.

“Yes, those guys were from the Gray Terminal. And no, I didn’t know them.. . personally  before. We never interacted beyond simple nods and stuff.”

At this point, Hack was just as confused as Koala. “How did you recognise each other then?”

“Well,” Sabo looked up at the ceiling absently, a finger scratching his cheek. “I guess we just did…? Although we were kinda famous in the area (for all the the wrong reasons).”  _ And we may or may not have beat them up before…...I honestly don’t remember though.  _ Sabo added in his head as he laughed sheepishly. “At least it turned out as a good thing…?”

Koala was incredulous, but let it slide as they had more important matters at the moment. “So, where are we heading today?”

At mention about his plans for today, Sabo positively lit up, and a wide grin spread across his face.  He had deliberately kept silent about it when Koala asked him yesterday, which needless to say, had ticked off the brunette and resulted in the bruise on his forearm.  Still, just seeing her seethe this morning, with both annoyance and expectation, the Chief of Staff thought it was worth the pain. Koala’s reactions were honestly too cute and amusing to pass up.

“Today…” He  drawled out the word slowly before falling silent , ignoring the flat stare that Koala was giving him. In the end it  earned him a light slap on his head, courtesy of Hack.

Rubbing his head and sending a pout the fishman’s way,  who only shrugged as if saying ‘it was this or Koala, be thankful’.

Sabo finally revealed what had him so excited.

“We hit Mount Corvo!”

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Guest reviewers do use a name/nickname please, for us to be able to answer you properly :)

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**A review = more motivation= more writing= faster update ;)**

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**Anyways, here’s the sketch we were talking about in the last chapter. :)**

**Https: // cyn21syrisna . deviantart . com / art / Dragon-and-Kane-718242417**

**If you like it, leave me a favourite/review, deal?**

**Don’t forget to delete the spaces. Enjoy! :D - Nohryn**


	5. Keep your Tigers close, and your Dragons closer

This story is written by both **Syrisna** and  **r** **oseanne** , you are welcome to check our other works.

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The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful **Black' Victor Cachat ( Fanfiction.net) **, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.

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**This story is posted on both _Archives of Our Own_ &  _Fanfiction.net_ (under Syrisna and Rose7anne101)**

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**A/N:**

**1) This chapter covers more of Sabo’s thoughts about his brothers. If he comes off as overly angsty or something, please keep in mind this chapter is set only several months after the Marineford Arc** **, and almost two years before he sees Luffy again** **.**

**2) Ivankov and the residents of Kamabakka Kingdom make an appearance in this chapter. To make things easier, Ivankov will be referred to as MALE unless he changes his gender again, while everyone else will be referred to as FEMALE.**

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We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).

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Koala was just about ready to tell her blonde superior off for taking his sweet time collecting his things , when her Den Den Mushi rang.

They were supposed to have left the inn to their journey fifteen minutes ago, but Sabo had said that he still had to get a few things together, so Koala and Hack had opted to wait for him outside in the small waiting area next to the stairs. Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and they had gotten bored waiting outside, and had went to check on Sabo and help if need be, instead they were standing by the wall while Sabo was moving nonstop around the small room. She wasn't sure what he was doing exactly.

If she hadn’t known better, she would think he was deliberately procrastinating.

Koala took out the Den Den Mushi from her pocket, all the while eyeing Sabo who was still  _ aimlessly _ moving around and gave no indication whatsoever that he had heard the incoming call.

“Y--”

"Koalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" The moment the receiver was picked up, the person on the other end started whining, momentarily stunning Koala. The brunette had never thought she'd ever hear her name being called in such a desperate and pathetic way. Her first impulse was to snap at the person, because the whining was honestly grating on her nerves. However, she didn't have a chance to act on it, because the voice continued.

“Come back, pleaseeeeeeeeeee… Koalaaaaaaaaaaaa… we need you. I need you. I can’t take it anymore. Please… Koala....”

Koala didn't bother to answer. Instead, she handed the call over to Hack with a decisive nod and glared heatedly at the snickering Sabo as she marched out without saying a word. Her actions spoke volumes of what was currently going on in her head, and both men had long since learnt to read Koala’s body language for survival purposes. Neither of them wanted to unknowingly set off a landmine.

“Please… really we need you here… it’s chaos… just chaos I tell you... Koala…. It’s impossible to handle….”

“Ehmm... Ahemmm...” Hack wasn't sure what to say.

“Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee… Just you… don’t bring Sabo… he’s a big boy, he can handle himself… we can’t… we are babies... Toddlers…. We need youuuuuu….”

“Ummmm… Koala's not here now…”

“Who is… Hack… where is Koala? Bring her to the phone!” demanded the voice.

Now that the whining quality was gone it was easy to recognize the voice: Crutch.

Hack looked at the now deserted doorway, and then at Sabo --who was _still_ snickering annoyingly-- with a pleading look asking for guidance or any kind of help. The poor fishman somehow always ended up stuck in the middle of such situations. Yet, no matter how many times he had experienced these types of situation, he never had any solid idea on how to handle them. ‘Time brings experience,’ his _FIN_.

“Did I hear someone laughing? I know I heard someone laughing! Is that… Sabo…. Sabo you son of...”

Hack did the only sensible thing he could think of.

_ Clank. _

He ended the call, chucked the Den Den Mushi in Sabo’s direction and fled.

Watching his retreating form, Sabo broke into fits of laughter yet again.

The Den Den Mushi has yet to land after Sabo missed it, when it rung again and subsequently landed on the floor.

_ purupurupuru…...purupurupuru…...purupurupuru…. purupurupuru...purupurupuru _

Sabo took his time picking up the Den Den Mushi and answering the call. He tried to get himself under control first and put on his leader persona. ‘Tried’ being the keyword.

“Crutch, what is the mission status?” he asked calmly and fast, giving Crutch no time to say the first word.

“....”

No answer was forthcoming.

Sabo tried hard not to snicker ; he was biting his lips and breathing from his nose trails slowly.

The faint cursing under breath that was being transmitted loud and clear by the Den Den Mushi made Sabo bite harder.

“Ahem… we arrived at the _ appointed dock,  _ and dropped anchor, we then introduced ourselves to the appropriate authorities using the official papers we  _ acquired _ …”

One would need to be deaf to miss Crutch stressing specific words with venom. Sabo wasn’t deaf per se, but he obviously had very selective hearing.

“Did they suspect anything?”

Sabo fired his question, cutting Crutch’s monologue before it took hold.

“No. Everything went without a hitch.”

“I see. What about selling and trading the goods that we brought? It shouldn't be problem to attract people to buy our merchandise; not many merchants traverse between the Grand Line and the Blues, afte r  all,” the Chief said  _ ‘wisely’ _ . “I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in  _ exotic  _ goods from the Grand Line,  _ especially the nobles.” _

“It’s all going as  _ planned for now; _ we’ll be entering the markets today. We’ve managed to secure a temporary spot near the wharf to sell our wares. Runo will be heading a team to restock the ship.”

“Why temporary? We need a better place, we need to attract the nobles!”

“I know. And I’m sure they will once word gets out about ‘Grand Line wares’. The harbour manager promised we will get a better spot next week as some of the other merchant ships will have left by then.”

“Good, have some of the guys bring the guards some sake, let them make it happen causally and naturally. The guards know the best gossip, and then we can draw out the information we want.”

This was something Sabo had figured out even before losing his memory, while he and his brothers snuck around the guards in and out of town. With long, BORING hours just standing around, especially in such a peaceful place that had not seen any real conflict in generations, guards tended to be even better gossipers than housewives. It would not take much for them to start giving out handy information --their patrol routes and schedules, for instance--, especially if it was mixed in with complaints about their rich, snobby superiors, over some good sake.

“I will send Zoe and Yue to take care of it… Those two are experts when it comes to things like this. Not to mention the guards will likely loosen up more around them, considering how harmless they look.”

“That , and they can take care of themselves should the guard try anything funny , ” Sabo added darkly. It wasn’t the first time their female members were harassed during missions, and it, unfortunately, wouldn’t be the last. Of course, for that reason, the men tended to become more alert and protective whenever they had to send any of the girls on such missions; it was their job and pride as men after all. (Even though it --justifiably-- annoyed and irritated the hell out of all the women; they could take care of themselves for Roger’s sake! Stop with the _ macho _ BULLSHIT! The men learned the  _ hard _ way what would be the consequences for such behaviour in front of Koala or Belo, or god forbid the Queen of Okamas, so they tuned it down some and didn't show their protectiveness openly. Still sometimes they came back  _ black and blue _ from missions, all because they opened their big moronic mouths.  And if they were  _ really _ unlucky, they came back as women themselves to get an idea what it felt like.

“I guess we’ll use the money from selling stock to buy the guards sake,” murmured Crutch pensively. The navigator also sounded somewhat  _ unwilling _ .

“Of course, we are here to further our mission, and not to make profit,” pointed out Sabo. Then he added in a fake chiding tone, “You do remember we aren’t actually merchants, right?”

Sabo lived by the mindset ‘ _ to never let an opportunity slip you by’ _ , especially ones that he could  _ “tease” _ his subordinates with. His smirk was replicated perfectly by the snail on the other end.

“ _ I know _ , that wasn’t what I meant--”

“Good job. Keep us updated!”

“Hey! Wait a sec--”

_ Clank. _

Sabo cheerily eyed the Den Den Mushi and didn’t bat an eye when it begin ringing again. He expertly wrapped some clothes around it, muffling the sound --and taking care not to suffocate it by accident-- and put it in his bag.

That was how it was done. Don’t let the enemy catch his breath and think.

Grabbing his pack off the floor, Sabo headed out of the room and locked it behind him, going down the stairs with the key swinging around his pointer finger to the lobby, where he was sure his companions were  **a** ) both waiting for him, or  **b** ) both had ditched him. Probably the latter.

When he reached the lobby, only the innkeeper, Iris, and Hack were there. The two were making small talk across the counter, pausing only when they noticed Sabo.

“Where’s Koala?” The blonde asked, not seeing the third member of their group anywhere.

Hack gestured towards the bar opposite of the inn. “She went over to talk to Makino.”

Sabo nodded in acknowledgement as he returned the room key to Iris together with a word of thanks to the kindly innkeeper.

Waving to the innkeeper, Sabo and Hack headed to Party’s Bar, where they found Koala at the counter sipping on a smoothie as she chatted with Makino about various things. One of them being the barmaid’s first meeting with Sabo apparently.

The two men entered the bar just in time to hear the end of the story, which was the three of them ditching dinner to run away from an irate Garp.

“God, don't remind me.” Sabo muttered, recalling his painful first meeting with Garp that night. Even ten years later, he could still remember the great pain the crazy vice-admiral had inflicted on them under the guise of 'training’.

“Sabo!” Makino clapped her hands together happily when she saw the blonde at the door. “You guys are going to see Dadan now, right?”

Sabo scratched the back of his head and grins sheepishly. “We’re not exactly going to see  _ her _ , but we will stop by the cottage.”

Makino didn’t look impressed with his answer.

Sabo didn’t cower, he really didn't. He just felt like a naughty little boy that was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It’s funny and unbelievably ironic, because his biological mother had never allowed any forms of sweets or pastries. Their teeth , as nobles , should be perfect.

“Fine,” grumbled Sabo. “I’ll definitely drop by to see her.”

Makino still didn't look convinced.

“I promise.”

“Great, then you can take this box of sake with you for them.”

“What? Why?”

“Hmm, think of it as a peace offering.”

Sabo and the others looked at her strangely, waiting for her to explain more. But Makino only smiled mysteriously.

* * *

 

Koala and Hack looked around in wonder at the forest that Sabo used to call home. Despite being in the East Blue, the forest was even larger than some on the Grand Line, and it felt so alive with all the sounds around them.

Ahead of them, Sabo sighed in relief at the familiar surroundings. It had been too long, and he’s missed this forest a lot ever since he got his memories back. Granted, forests were pretty much the same everywhere, but the forest on Mount Corvo was  _ special,  _ because it held so many memories. He grinned to himself as he recalled days spent running through the forest with his brothers.  _ Those were the days… _

Caught up in his recollection, Sabo didn’t notice the understanding looks that Koala and Hack traded.

Even before he got his memories back, the Revolutionary Chief-of-Staff had always had this thing for forests. Baltigo didn’t have forest; just lots of rocks, dust, wind and earth. As a result, every time work brought them to some place with a forest, no matter big or small, the blonde would always send sad, wistful looks towards the trees. The looks were fleeting, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Not to mention whenever Sabo did get a chance to spend some time in the forest, he would look like it was his birthday, Christmas, and every other vacation all rolled into one. No one ever understood why the Chief liked forests so much --to most of them it was just a bunch of flora and fauna-- and Sabo never could give an answer when someone asked him, but it showed a different side of the blonde that was rarely seen. For that, the Revolutionaries were content to just let him be.

Of course, that was as long as Sabo returned within an expected time frame and brought back some game if there were animals to hunt. There was no reason to refuse extra foodstuff, after all, especially since they did have Sabo ‘The Black Hole’ to feed.  

Now, Koala thought she finally understood why her friend loved the forest so much. Because it reminded him of home, even if he had not been able to consciously remember it.

“I wonder if our tree house is still there?” Sabo murmured to himself, thinking about the place he and his brothers had built for themselves. Back then, they had made sure the tree house was sturdy enough to withstand storms and strong winds, since it was at the top of the tallest tree on the mountain. However, that had been years ago, and Sabo knew the elements would have worn it down without anyone to maintain it, as Ace and Luffy almost never went near it after his ‘death’. Or so Makino had told him.

Of course, Sabo wasn’t being particularly quiet about his thoughts, and Koala squealed when she heard him mention their tree house. She had always loved the concept of treehouses, ever since she had first heard of them. Whom she heard it from was long forgotten, but the idea had stuck. Unfortunately, the main base didn’t so much as have a single sapling, let alone an entire tree. As such, she’d never gotten the chance to build one herself.

“You built a treehouse as a kid, how cute!” exclaimed Koala.

“Well, yeah. It was actually after I met Makino and Garp. To put it simply, we decided to live on our own, so we just pinned a note on the wall while Dadan, Garp , and the bandits were all out cold and moved out.”

“How old were you guys then?” Hack asked. He knew Sabo had been found when he was around ten years old, so the blonde would have been ten or less when they did that. Even just safely building a treehouse on your own was pretty impressive at that young age (yes, fishmen built tree houses, albeit out of corals, seaweed and shells).

Sabo put a hand to his chin, looking up thoughtfully. “I believe me and Ace were ten going on eleven, and Luffy was seven.”

“Wow.” Koala said, even more looking forward to seeing the aforementioned tree house. She couldn’t really imagine how it would look, having never seen one before. The closest imagery she could conjure up was a house nestled amongst the tree branches, but it was doubtful that that was how it actually looked.  

“We could see the sea so clearly from the top, and even had a flag flying above the canopy.” Sabo mentioned, grinning as he remembered their treasure.

“What kind of flag?” Hack asked interested.

“A pirate flag of course. Without the skull and bones though, just three letters -- ASL. We’d imagine we were pirates, and the tree house our ship.”

It was their vessel , carrying their dreams for the future. They would imagine what kind of adventures they would have when they grew up and sailed the oceans.

“ASL… What does it even mean?”

“Ace, Sabo, Luffy.”

“That’s so cute, using your initials… How did you decide the order?”

Sabo shrugged. “The L was for Luffy, and he was the youngest, so it was naturally the last. As for me and Ace...” The blonde grinned devilishly. “We fought for it, of course, since we were the same age. Even though Ace was older by two months, and by right his initial should be first, I wasn’t going to just  _ give  _ it to him.” It had been a long-standing argument between the two older brothers, who always found reasons as to why one should be older than the other, despite their biological birthday telling exactly who was older.

Koala sighed dramatically. “Why am I not surprised.”

Sabo was pleased to have the ‘cute’ factor disappear from the description of his childhood memories. It was a true and honourable fight. He had lost it to Ace, and he was proud of it.

Besides, being the middle brother wasn’t so bad, since it meant that he possessed both ‘older brother’ and ‘younger brother’ rights, which Sabo had never hesitated to use. It wasn’t so bad… except when he had to break up fights between Luffy and Ace over some stupid thing, mostly Ace taunting Luffy about his lame powers. And it was usually --if not always-- Ace who started the argument.

Sabo was about to continue telling the others about his childhood, when Koala suddenly grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop in his tracks. He raised an eyebrow questioningly, noticing that both Hack and Koala had stopped walking and were observing their surroundings.

“I feel like we’ve been here before.” Hack said, arms crossed over his chest as he studied a cluster of trees that looked really familiar.

Koala rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “That because we’ve passed this place like, three times already.” She whirled on Sabo, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Sabo, are you sure you know the way?” Koala asked, her eyes watching him like a hawk watched its prey.

Cold sweat started breaking out on his back under the brunette’s stare. “Of course… I do.” Sabo replied nervously, his body tensing in preparation to dodge if Koala decided to punch him.

“You don’t sound so sure.” Koala sharply accused.

Sabo tried to argue. “It should be here somewhere...” Although it proved futile.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

“Uh… Ace may or may not have altered the trail s … to throw people off… I think?” It sounded like something Ace would do. And if Sabo knew Ace, he probably did just that. The oldest brother was paranoid like that. Even back then he was tough enough to uproot and move trees if he wanted to… Sabo wouldn’t be surprised if Ace DID ‘rearrange’ the forest, either for security purposes, or simply because he was bored, or even just frustrated with no one to take it out on except Luffy, which was (outside of training) absolutely not an option. No doubt Luffy had helped; Sabo had spotted a tree or two that was haphazardly splintered, certifiably the results of a badly-aimed Rocket.

…

In the end, the trio finally found the clearing where the tree with the treehouse was located, albeit with a lot more time spent than they’d expected.

“See? I told you I wasn’t lost.”

“Of course you weren’t. Because we didn’t just spend three hours looking for this place. Yeah, you weren’t lost at all.”

“Ahahaha…”

Sabo laughed apologetically, looking wistfully at the remains of what had once been the three brother’s home. The epitomization of their dreams. None of his companions remarked on the tree house --or what’s left of it-- and Sabo was very thankful for it.

The tree was still there , but all that remained of the house was rotted debris still stuck to the tree in different angles. He could somehow still see the outline of the tree house. Except, in few more years those would disappear too.

His heart ached a bit. He wanted to cheer himself up and say, ‘at least the memories of this place would stay in your heart forever’, but that wasn't reassuring. Far from it. He had lost them once, and it could happen again. Needless to say, it was a lot easier to join the Army and become a soldier when you had no past, ergo, no relationships or ties to worry about. Sabo’s job was dangerous, and if he did lose his memories once more, there’s no saying if he’d ever get it back. In the first place, he’d only remembered this time because the news about Ace had been too much of a shock for him. It had made Sabo wonder more than once, if he had been subconsciously taking for granted the fact that Ace was alive and well, even when he was amnestic.  

He could, of course, rebuild the tree house, but it wouldn’t be the same. It would feel like an empty house. A shell. Void of meaning without Ace and Luffy.

Sabo let out a sigh as he caught sight of something sticking out of the ground on the other side of the tree.

He walked over to get a closer look, only to stare dumbfoundedly at a wheel that was half-sticking out from the undergrowth. It wasn’t just any wheel; to be specific, it was a ship’s steering wheel.

_ Their wheel. _

Picking it up, Sabo sighed again as he pulled it out, brushing dirt, bugs and dead leaves off it, remembering how he and his brothers had loved playing with it , and sometimes fighting between them on who should be the one to steer it. It always returned to the ‘captain issue’ with them then.

Sabo could recall their childish arguments with extraordinary clarity; could hear their laughter and see their bright, naive faces with those big, carefree smiles.  

_ It would never be the same. _

_... _

The sun would be setting soon, so the three of them decided to camp there for the night and resume their trek in the morning.

At some point while Hack and Koala were busy setting up camp, Sabo had climbed up to the tree house and came down a moment later, carrying a crate that was miraculously still intact despite the years. It was a wonder the crate was even still there, considering how most of the house wasn’t.

He had then sat down on one the tree’s large roots, a fond but sad smile on his face as he studied the contents of the crate. The brunette and the fishman were curious yet judging from how Sabo had sat away from them, he probably wanted to keep it private, and they respected his privacy. If he wanted to share, he knew where they were.

...

They were just about to grill some fish they had caught when a sudden roar got their attention.

“That sounded a bit too close for comfort...” Hack noted, his ears more sensitive than Koala and Sabo’s.

“Don’t worry…” Sabo’s grin was lopsided as he continued stoking the fire, seemingly unperturbed by the roar. Koala knew that look; it was the look he always had when he knew what was going to happen and they didn’t (And Sabo never shared his endless knowledge with the awaiting masses. According to the Chief of Staff, he was setting a good example by keeping them vigilant on their toes, as they were being hunted as a resistance movement, except they all knew the unspoken truth: ‘because it’s super amusing to watch them get all twitchy and attempt to make him tell.’ They have yet to succeed in finding a way to make him talk in a timely fashion; Sabo only told  _ what _ he wanted,  _ when  _ he wanted).

“It’s just an old friend,” Sabo said mysteriously. Koala was neither charmed, nor lulled into letting her guard down.  

Not too long after that, the revolutionaries heard the tell-tale signs of something approaching. Koala and Hack felt their jaws drop when they caught sight of what that ‘something’ was, the firelight basking its yellow coat in an orange light and illuminating the predatory glint in its eyes as it stepped into the clearing.

“Old friend?” murmured Hack with raised eyebrow.

Yep. This place was definitely more ‘Grand Line’ than ‘East Blue’.

“Ermmm… Sabo?” Koala leaned slightly towards the blonde. “When you said the animals here were big… you meant huge, didn’t you?”

She was pretty sure the tiger in front of them was  _ at least _ a story tall.

Smirking, Sabo finally lifted his head up, his blue eyes meeting the tiger’s obsidian ones.

“Why hello there, Tiger Lord. We meet again.”

The tiger was eyeing Sabo with undivided attention, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air.

Koala took a few steps back getting into a fighting stance and the tiger crouched as if it might pounce.

“Sabo,” she hissed in a whisper.

The animal snarled, Koala snarled back instinctively. She was skilled enough in Observation Haki to assess that she could most likely best it, however she had not lived this long by taking chances with oversized carnivores. Especially not ones that were eyeing the three like they had ‘Dinner!’ written all over them.  

Beside her, Hack too took up a defensive pose, his hands raised in front of him prudently. Although his eyes were looking with at the magnificent animal’s jaws and claws appreciatively.

“We used to fight him,” said Sabo nonchalantly. “Good days, good days…” His voice was filled with pleasant nostalgia, as if he was having tea in a peaceful garden rather than sitting on a log in the forest with a large carnivore looking ready to pounce on him at any moment.

“WHAT? Why?” Koala snapped. Her voice still low but her words showed her irritation. All the while her eyes didn’t leave the huge predator as she murmured under her breath about stupid boys, and their idiotic fights and how was he still alive now was - _ really and utterly- _ beyond her.

“We had planned to form a crew together originally, though we couldn’t decide who would be captain since all of us wanted to be it… We fought Lord Tiger to decide who would be the captain of the three of us... But we could only win against it together. The three of us. Of course, we were only small brats then. In the end, we just ditched the idea and decided we’d form separate crews.” Sabo was speaking calmly and normally, eyeing the tiger back with soft smile.

“You’re still a  _ brat _ now,” Koala grumbled, not bothering whispering anymore.

“Did he come here for revenge then?” Hack asked.

“It’s been ten years, I doubt that oversized cat would remember him. More likely, he’s just looking for something to fill his belly.” Koala answered. ‘Something meaning us’ went unsaid.

Sabo sighed standing up and looked at the tiger raising his eyebrow as if they both were marvelling at the stupidity of their companions.

“Sabo, what…”

Sabo moved forward in slow, measured steps in the tiger direction. The tiger stayed in his place, not a muscle moving, only his eyes narrowing.

“Sabo...”

Sabo turned and gave them the look.  _ ‘Hush… Be quiet, I know what I am doing.’ _

“I am not going to patch you up when you came back crying full of scratches,” cursed Koala as Hack shrugged. He was accustomed to Sabo’s ticks and mannerism. It was better to go with flow. “And I reserve the right to tell you ‘I told you so’.”

Sabo ignored them and turned his gaze back to the tiger.

He took another two steps, standing right in front of the huge animal.

He extended his hand slowly, maintaining eye contact.

..

.

The tiger remained crouched in his place.

The animal was strangely quiet as if it was holding its breath.

_ Shouldn't it be me, who is holding his breath? _ Sabo mused to himself.  _ Size-wise, I  _ **_am_ ** _ at a pretty obvious disadvantage. _

..

.

At the first contact between Sabo’s hand and the tiger’s head. Sabo felt the animal stiffen.

He waited with bated breath.

It was still rigid and taut.

Sabo caressed the fur-covered head softly, his hand moving slowly back and forth.

He thought he felt vibration under his hand. But it took him awhile to realize that the Tiger Lord was emitting a low vibrating  _ sound _ .

Sabo was using both of his hands to caress the back of the tiger - - what he could reach - \- as it stretched its huge limbs beneath his hands. The sound getting higher and higher.

Sabo took a step back purposely and the tiger followed him immediately rubbing his great head fondly against him. Sabo obliged and began massaging his ears with triumphant grin.

“It’s purring??!” Koala’s voice was full of incredulous disbelief. She looked at Hack beside her and repeated “It’s actually _ purring? _ ” She seemed to be waiting for confirmation that she wasn't hallucinating. Hack could only nod, looking impressed. Koala turned, squinted and strained her ears. “It’s purring, isn’t it?”

It seemed that the third time was the charm, because the fact that a tiger was purring courtesy of her friend seemed to finally sink in.

“No need to be jealous Koala, I will rub your ears later.” Sabo deadpanned.

Koala growled, cursing him and the big cat, and stomped away. Sabo was sure he saw her ears turn red before she fled. He snickered to himself.  

“Ehmm… I think you messed up the roles...”

“Hmmm?”

“Koala loves furry animals.”

“I know.”

Sabo laughed out loud, and the tiger seemed to purr louder as if laughing with him.

“So, who was it that tamed you? Luffy or Ace?” he whispered to the animal.

_ Probably Luffy. Young Ace would never be caught petting this fluffy cat anytime soon. He would think it would ruin his reputation. _

A small jingling sound caught Sabo’s attention, and he noticed a small tag dangling from a ribbon around the tiger's scruff. It was tangled within the fur, which would explain why they missed it before.

“I see he gave you a name too... Even though I am surprised that he didn't eat you instead... Guess it means he likes you.”

Sabo caught the Tag in a fisted hand while the other rubbed the animal's behind his left ear. To its pleasure.

“So what kind of name would Luffy give…?” Sabo murmured and tried to guess.

“Fluffy maybe… it does fit… but no, maybe something involving food… Meat...or Crocodile… he loved Crocodile meat especially… it will be like Luffy to name an animal with another animal’s type...or maybe king? No, Luffy is the only king... let’s see…”

Sabo finally opened his fisted hand and looked at the simple upside-down tag in his palm, with a bell attached to it too. On one side, there were a few letters written on the tag in Luffy’s chicken scratch handwriting, but Sabo had seen his youngest brother write enough --even if it was rare occurrence-- to decipher the writing.

“Tora-chan.... How very normal!”  _ And totally predictable. Of course, Luffy would name the Tiger Lord ‘Tora-chan’, only his fearless brother would dare give the furry beast such a cute name. _

Sabo laughed and let the tag fall from his hand and used both hands to knead the big cat’s head.

He wondered if he could smuggle it onto their ship when they were finished here without anyone noticing.

He could probably  _ persuade  _ them if they did notice. After all, no one in their right mind would reject such a cute, fluffy pet, oversized or not.

_ Right? _

He was positive that the Tiger Lord would love all the attention and loving care the Okamas back home were sure to bestow on him.

“Who’s a good Kitty. Yes, you are. Tora-chan”

* * *

 

Emporio Ivankov, the Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom woke up with a gasp on Momoiro Island, his home where those with a maiden’s heart lived together in harmony.

The pink filling his kingdom everywhere, in plants and animals, also filled his heart to the brink.

He had a dream. The best dream. And the maiden’s way was to share with his lovely candies.

Ivankov hurried from his bedroom to the hall were his candies waited for him every morning.

“Candies!” he greeted, bursting jovially through the doors more dramatically than usual. “Good Morning~~”

The residents of Kamabakka Kingdom were already milling about the hall; at the appearance of their queen and his loud greeting, they chorused back their own greetings with similar volumes.

“Perfect Morning, isn’t it? Iva-sama.” Tibany replied, already pouring a fresh cup of tea as Ivankov settled into his throne.  

“Ivan-sama, you’re just in time. Breakfast is just being served.”

“Good morning, Iva-sama! We made you breakfast...you will love it!”

Holding a hand up to request for attention, Ivankov stood up and cleared his throat.

“Candies, Vi had the best dream ever!” the queen announced.

“What?”

“Of course you did!”

“What was it about?”

Hushing his subjects, who immediately fell silent, the Okama Queen continued his story.

“Ahem! In vmy dream, vwe had a huge fluffy cat. Vit was the fluffiest cat Vi have ever seen!”

“A cat?”

“A huge fluffy cat?”

“How big was it?”

“You mean a lion?”

“Or a tiger?”

“Maybe a regular cat? I know a place with animals that are really big... there was this hamster that was three times bigger than me...”

“What did you feed him?”

“Candies!” snapped Ivankov. Not accustomed to being ignored. He was always the queen of any show. “Stop interrupting vme.”

“Sorry Iva-sama.”

“Iva-sama...we apologize. It won’t happen again.”

“We’re so sorry!”

Ivankov huffed and looked at them from below his long lashes. When he felt that their apologies were heartful enough, he added nonchalantly.

“Anyway... vit was  _ a cat _ . A very big one. All fluffy with beautiful, black and gold fur...”

“Tiger...” whispered someone in reverence.

“...and vwe, vmy candies were giving him alllllll~~our  _ love _ . Vwe made him shine.... He was so beautiful and graceful ...and colourful… Vit was a masterpiece.”

“Ohhh...that sounds beautiful!”

“What a wonderful dream...”

“Ivan-sama… did I put on him my pink ties?”

“Did he have my purple bands?”

“Did he have my hair crown on his head?”

“Hair claws?”

“Disc chain!”

“Ohhh...that would look stunning...”

“Maybe those flower you make Tina-chan...”

“Yes, we can put them on his ears. Or weave a flower crown for him~~”

“What about lipstick?”

“Shades?”

“Black... And purple...”

“Nooo~~pink would look better!”

“Red! Red all over!”

Ivankov hummed his approval. Such vision shouldn't stay a dream. No, that would be a crime, keeping it all to himself.

The queen had made a decision!

“Where is candy-boy?” He asked loudly.

“Sanji-kun?” Tibany answered, pressing a finger to her lips. “I think Caroline-chan was disciplining him.”

“Again?”

“He was giving her the cold shoulder  _ again. _ ”

Ivankov sighed loudly. “Such a naughty boy!”

“Poor Caroline.” The candies murmured their sympathies.

“At any rate, will someone go bring Candy-boy here now.” Ivankov demanded and his candies scattered to obey his order. And not a few minutes later, said Candy-boy was brought in all his glory to the queen, with a fierce scowl on his face and vehemently glaring at everyone. By  _ all his glory _ Ivankov meant, he was wearing the _ sweet, _ rosy princess dress (Let it be known that Rose does NOT suit Sanji. At. All.) for naive virgins.

It seemed that his candies had interrupted Caroline when she was still applying makeup. The Candy-boy looked like he was punched thoroughly only in one eye and the right side of his lips looked like it lost the fight to a ripe tomato.         

“Ivan-sama… I’ve brought you  _ Sanji-kun _ .” Caroline announced, her cheer a bit dampened.

“Vi am sorry for interrupting your fun, Caroline-chan, but Vi have an important mission for Candy-boy here.”

Candy-boy was still struggling to get out of Caroline’s grasp without success. His cursing was getting louder by the second.

Although, it was also getting more colourful. She would have to remedy that, Caroline noted to herself.

“Candy-boy, vwe have mission for vyou…”

Sanji eyed the Okama Queen warily. “Which is?” He had stopped struggling for the moment, if only so he wasn’t strangled by the stupid frilly choker that had been forced on him along with the dress.

“...Vwe need vyou to bring vus a cat!”

“A what?” Sanji repeated, unsure if he’d heard wrongly or not.

“A  _ cat _ , Candy-boy.”

“No way in hell! We already agreed on the challenge, you ugly hag...man...agehhhh... **Ugly** .” Sanji grumbled  _ angrily and loudly.  _ He’d sooner give Luffy the combination for the locks on his fridge than  _ willingly  _ do anything for these bunch of violence-prone, overly aggressive queers.

The Okamas gasped in alarm.

“Calling the most beautiful queen with that filthy…  _ word _ .”

“How dare you!” snapped Caroline. “You need more discipline.”

Sanji rolled his eyes.  _ Right, and you shitty okama-idiots need a fashion magazine. Or ten. Maybe a hundred. And make-up tutorials.  _ He didn’t say his thoughts out loud; he knew from first-hand experience that these ‘maidens’ considered themselves fashion gurus and insinuating otherwise would have extremely dire consequences. He did not, under any circumstances, want to go through that hell again, so he wisely held his tongue.

“ _ Oh _ Candy-boy… vmy heart is breaking...” Ivankov clutched his heart dramatically, his other hand coming to rest in his head, hiding part of his face. Fluttering his lashes, as to hide a tear. Sanji only managed to hold back from gagging at the sight.  _ Nami-swan...Robin-chwan...where are you... _

“No! Ivan-sama~”

“You are beautiful~!”

“The most beautiful!”

“Don't listen to this virgin maiden!”

“Vi...vi’m breaking… into small…. tiny...Bits...” Ivankov gasped, taking a deep inhale and letting it out slowly. It sounded like a sob of small poor animal. His huge body shrunk into a small cocoon.

Everyone rounded on Sanji, shouting at him for his unladylike behaviour. The blonde cook only rolled his eyes again. Who cared if his behaviour was ‘unlady-like’? He was a  _ man _ . A true gentle **man** . And he was goddamn proud of it.

“Iva-sama….”

“Apologize, you monster!”

“Look what you did!”

Ivankov jumped, flinging his hands out to his sides and shouted, “OR NOT...Heehaw!”

“.....”

“Your heart is not broken?” her candies asked in surprise.

“You got us, Ivan-sama! … We were so sad!”

“You got us again!”

“We were panicking!”

The Queen ignored her candies sweet complaints.

“Heehaw! Candy-boy… Are vyou saying that vyou can’t catch vus a big cat!”

“How cowardice!”

“The dress does fit him!”

“Maybe he’s just becoming more girly...”

“He’s finally accepting his inner maiden, isn’t he...”

“Oh? Have vyou lost vyour manhood already?” Ivankov remarked with wink, “That was quick!”

“Shut up! Of course… not!” Sanji choked in rage. “No way! Alright, big cat… I will get it! Now, SHUT UP!”

He was ignored.

“A very big cat...”

“Huge...”

“Beautiful!”

“Graceful!”

“Lovely~”

“Okay… Is that what you want to eat for dinner?” Sanji groaned. He had already accepted his fate --HELL-- of being stuck here for the time being.

Sanji had accepted the challenge of fighting for the 99 secret vital recipes.  _ The new kama kempo techniques training for married life. _

Sanji had decided he would win this challenge, beat up those fake ugly women...men and make his crew stronger with his cooking and most importantly make Robin-chwannn and Nami-swannn even more sexy. He would win.  _ Wait for me, Nami, Robin. _

The okamas gasped again in horror and outrage.

“Nooooooooo...”

“How barbaric!”

“So cruel!”

“I don't believe we have someone this savage here!”

“He needs taming.”

“He is very far from having a maiden’s heart.”

…

Sanji shut out the annoying whines of the okamas, slamming the door loudly as he left the room to go find a ‘big cat’. Which he did, after running around on the monstrously pink island for over an hour. The shitty, stupidly  _ pink _ dress didn’t help.

When he returned to Ivankov’s place where he was staying, he had three “big cats” following behind him and batting their eyelashes. Sanji had to mentally stop himself from lashing out and turning the felines into barbeque.

The moment the  _ ladies  _ started breaking out the hair ties and ribbons and general dress up items, Sanji tuned them out in favour of listing in his head all the different ways he could put a tiger on the plate.

_ It couldn’t possibly be harder than dinosaur or sea kings. _

He thought as he made a strategic retreat to somewhere without those nightmares that were busy ‘beautifying’ the tigers.

_ Better you than me pal!  _ Sanji didn’t pity the tigers at all. In fact, if he knew how this island worked, those overgrown cats were surely enjoying the  _ makeover ( _ **_*cough*_ ** _ torture _ **_*cough*)_ ** session.

* * *

 

Sabo was staring aimlessly at the fire as the twig in his hand moved the tinder around while his other grabbed several more twigs from the pile next to him and tossed them into the fire.

He had gotten the first shift of keeping the fire going, and an eye on their temporary camp.

That being said, he doubted that anything would disturb or attack them --not with the huge tiger that was contentedly snoring behind him-- but one could never be too careful.

_ Purupurupuru…...purupurupuru…. _

The sudden ringing of the Den Den Mushi startled Sabo from his thoughts. He fumbled around in his coat and hurried to answer, glancing at his companions in case the incoming call had accidentally woken them. Luckily, neither of them - - or the Tiger (except some ear twitching) - - showed any signs of waking. They were all fast asleep, worn out from their hike into the mountains. The journey up here was more tiring than they had expected.

“Sabo, what’s the status?”

Sabo was startled once more when he heard their leader’s voice, remembering that he had received a call. He looked at the Den Den Mushi that he answered.

Yup, it was the one connected to their base in Baltigo. He really should pay more attention to his surroundings.

“Everything is going swimmingly. We arrived at the harbour in Edge Town as planned and made our merchant debate. Right now, we are in the process of building ourselves a reliable and trustworthy reputation…”

“You were able to do all that without being there?”

“....”

“...”

“Why would you think that I’m not in Edge Town?” Sabo asked, faking being hurt by his superior’s ‘unfounded’ accusation.

“....”

The Chief of Staff could just imagine the unamused expression on Dragon’s face now as he listened to his subordinate’s miserable acting, all the while knowing exactly what was going on.

“Who was the one that told on me?”

“You just did.”

Sabo groaned.

“Agehhhh… dammit!!… I can't believe I fell for it again,” complained Sabo.

“Frankly, I didn’t expect you to not go to see them.”

No need to say who ‘them’ were.

“....”

“You’re right, I’m not in Edge Town.” Sabo finally admitted. “I had the crew drop me off in Foosha village with Koala and Hack, and told them to head on to Goa.”

Dragon didn’t say a word, knowing his second-in-command had more to say.

“I met Makino and the mayor… and some guys that fled from the Grey Terminal fire ten years ago. They are probably alive thanks to your powers, if what they said was true…  I t was honestly a bit overwhelming …”

Dragon hummed, waiting.

“I talked with Makino some, and then the mayor brought me to Luffy’s house, I mean, your hous…”

“Technically, it’s Garp’s house. It hasn’t been my home for many years now… I think it also stopped being Luffy’s a long time ago. You told me you lived together in the mountain with Portgas D. Ace and the Dadan Family, didn’t you? Besides, my father hardly stays there… the sea and the navy has always been more his home than the house in Foosha.”

Dragon voice was blank, it didn’t show any kind of emotions that you would expect like remorse, anger, nostalgia. He was just reflecting reality.

Sabo hummed under his breath and murmured, “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Sabo smiled wryly. “The mayor took me to a room…  _ his  _ bedroom. It’s a mess, which isn't a surprise, but... there were pictures and notes everywhere in the room… there were also pictures of you as a kid.” Sabo bit his tongue, stopping himself. He wasn't sure if it was his place to mention the woman in the picture. That woman was probably Dragon’s mom , and Garp’s wife.

He forced himself to put his confusing thoughts and feelings into words.

“…I found Luffy and Ace’s wanted posters. They were both crumpled up, and he even wrote on them. I probably should have looked if he had yours too.”

Sabo wrote a mental note to go back and check, wondering what Garp would have written on it. He was sure it would be filled with creative curses.

“The notes on the wall… they felt like a diary of some kind… filled with mementos and the like… of course it was very chaotic...and...” Sabo trailed of, he found nothing more to add. He shrugged wordlessly.

Sabo was sure that Dragon saw the ‘shrug’ somehow. He had the ability to see those kinds of details. Though the Army had rumours floating around that Dragon was secretly a mind-reader, a seer, and an emo-fashion-guru. The Revolutionary could be an awful gossips and conspiracy fanatics. Really, it came with the job.

“The old man was always the sentimental kind deep inside his tough shell. I don’t agree with him or with his methods , but he is a good man.”

Sabo found himself nodding along unconsciously but paused mid nod. _Was he? A good man?_ Once he would have agreed without a thought: ‘A lesser man wouldn’t have done what Garp had; The old marine had taken in three boys that the world hated and abandoned, loving them in his tough, unique way. Fists of love and all. Even so, that love had been unc onditional. Even the part about them becoming marines was to keep them safe from the hard life of being criminals. That being said, his idea of good upbringing was truly questionable. Bandits as caretakers for future _marines_ was a dreadful idea from every angle. Garp was in his own way, a good man. Someone he respected.’ Except he didn’t seem to be able to say it wholeheartedly now. “I don’t know how to face him… I am angry at him...angry. He was there at Marineford. He knew. Yet…. yet he did nothing…. he sat back and watched when... Ace was to be executed, and after when he died.... I know that he cares...that he loves… _loved_ Ace, but he watched and let him die… so I don’t know… I just...don’t know…”

It was still hard for Sabo to speak in past tense when speaking about his older brother, which was kind of funny in a dark, miserable way. He had forgotten his past. No. He had left it, and only remembered it when it had truly and inevitably passed. When Ace had passed away. Sometimes, he wondered what was the point in remembering, if all it brought was a whole shipload of pain and regret that would forever haunt him. But then those thoughts ceased almost immediately as he remembered the life he lived and shared , and the future he was working to bring forward.  

Sabo took a shuddering breath, trying to keep the other man from hearing it, knowing that he had probably failed.

**Luffy!** His younger brother’s face swam in front of his eyes, shocking him out of his twisting ,

depressed thoughts.

He was beyond grateful that he still had Luffy. It was a good thing he had remembered, or else Luffy would remain alone, thinking he was the only one left. Sabo wouldn't and couldn't let that happen. He would find him as soon as he could, and let him know. His little brother needed Sabo as much as Sabo needed him.

_ Luffy, you're not alone. You still have me. _

He would beg and plead and apologise. He owed his little brother at least that much.

He owed himself that.

He owed Ace that.

Ace.

The one that stayed and kept their promise to take care of their little cry baby brother when Sabo had left them behind.

The roles were reversed with Ace’s passing, and it was Sabo’s job now. His turn to uphold the promise they made.

Despite all that pain, he would not give up on those all-too short years of joy they had shared together.

He will not regret remembering.

Dragon said nothing all the while.

“I don’t know if I SHOULD meet him… maybe it would be better if he still thinks I am dead?” Sabo said, more forcefully than he intended. His thoughts had imbalanced him, and it showed in the quivering of his voice.

The silence was heavy, and Sabo felt like squirming…. He wanted. No. Needed to lighten the mood. He impulsively blurted out, “Makino said that Dadan… you know, the bandit boss that raised Ace and Luffy?... Makino said that she punched Garp  **_hard_ ** when they--”

He never finished the sentence.

“Is that how you really feel?”

It was posed as a question, but it felt like an accusation.

Coward, he was being a scaredy cat. Like how Ace always called Luffy. Luffy would not approve. Ace would probably glare at him with hands on his hips. He always preferred to fight things head on and get it all out rather than let it sit inside and simmer. Those things not including the matter of his father -- that was an exception.

He let out a long breath.

“I guess… I will cross the bridge when I see it.”

“Good...now about your mission, Chief-of-Staff…”

Sabo groaned.

When Dragon called him by his position, Sabo knew he was in for a looooong night.

…

He was right. Dragon kept him awake for the next three hours,  _ lecturing  _ him all the way until after midnight. He even took Hack’s shift, waving the fishman back to sleep when he woke up to take over, but found the blonde engaged in a rather one-sided conversation with their boss , and looking increasingly like a zombie.

But then again, Sabo doubted he’d have gotten any sleep even if Dragon hadn’t kept him up. The least he could do was let his friends get some more sleep. They needed it.

And he really preferred not having to face Grumpy Koala in addition to all of this.  

* * *

 

They were still putting out the fire when Sabo sensed them. Twenty...no, twenty-six people had surrounded them with hostile intent radiating from them in waves, though they wisely kept out of sight, making use of the forest’s natural camouflage to conceal themselves.

Tora-chan had left earlier in search of breakfast, so there was nothing to deter them from attempting to mug the three people who looked like they belonged someplace else. Sabo supposed he and his comrades did look pretty out of place; with how they were dressed, they looked pretty similar to ordinary city folk. And those were usually easy pickings for any criminal.

Sabo focused his Observation Haki, locating the precise position of all twenty-six of them. There were five directly in front of Koala, three more to her right… six slightly scattered on the left, two behind him, five behind the treehouse’s tree, four in Hack’s direction and the last one in front of him.

It was admittedly great teamwork, with how strategically they had placed themselves.

“Sabo,” hissed Koala from his side, noticing the encirclement as well. Both her and Hack had subtly shifted into position, ready to strike if need be.

Sabo ignored her, trying to concentrate on recognizing the auras he was sensing.

A voice boomed, and the blonde finally managed to place them at the same time they stepped out into the open.

“How dare you trespass onto the great Dadan Family’s territory?”

The first thing that Sabo noted was that none of them had changed.

They were all the same, even their clothes. It seemed like he’d only left yesterday and arrived a day after. Not ten, eleven years.

Well, one of them looked a lot shorter than he remembered, but that was probably just him.

They were all wielding knives, or some other form of weapons and ACTING menacing. Had he not known how these people usually behaved at their base when they weren’t out terrorizing the occasional passer-by, he might have believed their act. However, with the embarrassing insider knowledge he possessed… it was more funny than anything, ESPECIALLY since it used to be the other way around, with _him_ terrifying _them._

For a split second, Sabo entertained the thought of pretending to be intimidated and scared, just for the fun of it. It would be funny to see them squirm in their shoes when he revealed his identity.

It was so nostalgic.

Hack and Koala tensed, any pretences of being unaware gone already in place of sharp wariness. Sabo knew they would have already attacked viciously and quickly, but they didn’t because they were waiting for him to defuse the situation.

Sabo, for his part, just laughed and laughed.

_ Oops! Now I can’t act intimidated. Bummer! _

“Hey you! What’s so funny?!” One of them yelled, swinging his sword in the blonde's direction.

At that, Sabo just continued laughing.

He probably should explain and introduce himself once more, maybe add some flare for drama.

Yet.

Yet, he didn’t seem to be able to stop.

 

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